March 4, 2016 8:01 AM

It's nice to be important. It's more important to be nice.

My religion is kindness.

  • Abraham Lincoln

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

  • The Dalai Lama

I watch the news and read several newspapers and magazines…and sometimes I take a step back in awe of the realization that we Americans have some serious anger management issues. Listening to Donald Trump and his supporters, one could be forgiven for thinking the only things missing from the picture are the torches, pitchforks, perhaps even a lynch mob.

It’s got to be exhausting traveling through life with so much anger and negative energy along for the ride, eh? How is it that so many can be so thoroughly, borderline irrationally angry for so long day after day after day? That can’t be good for the soul, and it’s not easy on a person’s humanity, either. Live with anger, hatred, and recrimination long enough, and the odds are good you’ll stop seeing people as people, instead reducing them to caricatures, as something “less than.” Drag the ball and chain of hatred and intolerance behind you for any length of time, and before long you’ll find reasons to hate those who think, believe, live, and/or love differently than you. Thoughts like that seldom remain mere thoughts for very long; too often that disdain for one’s fellow human beings is translated into action.

I’m no Mother Teresa; I can be as prone to anger as anyone…but I’m trying to be better about it. It seems I’ve spent a good part of my life around people who default to assuming the worst of people. It’s a habit I’ve too often fallen into over the years, and I’m trying to get to the point where being nice doesn’t necessarily involve a conscious effort on my part. It helps that I’m married to someone who’s preternaturally kind and gentle, and I’ve learned much by being around her. More than anything, I’ve learned that I have much to learn.

What this world needs is a new kind of army — the army of the kind.

  • Cleveland Amory

Never look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.

  • Jesse Jackson

These days, malevolence and negative energy surround us 24/7/365. It seems it’s impossible to turn around without being subjected to anger and butthurt, for all manner of reasons and for no reason at all.

The good news is that we have the ability to influence, if not always change, the environment we live in. We can choose how we react to situations. We can choose what we choose to take offense over. We can choose who we surround ourselves with. Most importantly, we can choose the sort of energy we allow into our lives. Attitude is a matter of personal choice; do we feed off the negative energy surrounding us…or do we choose a different path and elect to focus on positive energy, which, once we find it, only seems to increase in abundance?

I don’t mean to make it sound as if my goal is to become a candidate for sainthood. I’m not Catholic, which, if memory serves, disqualifies me automatically. All I’m trying to do is figure out a way to make the most positive impact I can on those whom I come into contact with. It’s not about “not being an asshole” as much as it just being nice because it’s the right- and easiest- thing to do.

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. “Absolutely,” the professor said. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

  • JoAnn C. Jones, Guideposts, January 1996

As contrived as it may sound, I just want to be the best person I can be. When I’m finally dragged out feet first, I want to be remembered as someone who was kind and gentle and gave a damn about his friends, family, and those he came into contact with. I want to be remembered for being nice. In today’s world, surrounded 24/7/365 with negative energy as we are, that’s no small task.

I can only hope I’m able to meet that challenge.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 4, 2016 8:01 AM.

Ian Desmond: A very good baseball player with a terrible, horrible, very bad business sense was the previous entry in this blog.

Finally...a candidate who can unite us in our collective hate is the next entry in this blog.

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