- If kindness does, in fact, bind us to others, why is this so?
- When we extend kindness, is there a shift in the way we see others as individuals, or a shift in the way we see our relationship to others in a larger context?
- Does kindness change us only as individuals, or does it also engender a change in the social order?
- If we feel ourselves to be kind, are we also challenged to become more just?
- Is compassion greater than simple kindness?
These questions are asked as a "Midday Meditation" in "Your Daybook," an e-mail newsletter that I receive from the Odyssey Networks. As our society seems to increasingly distance itself from simple kindness--we won't even get into civility here--the questions seem to me more than merely a meditative exercise.
I find the last three questions to be the most pertinent. The answer, to me, is yes in all three cases. You?
