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In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland

>> 8 March 2009


"Of all the things I have learned in my lifetime, the one with the greatest value is that unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly and most underrated agent of human change. Competition will improve quality and lower costs. Confidence will enable us to climb a mountain instead of a molehill. But kindness that catches us by surprise brings out the best in our natures."

-- Bob Kerrey

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



Visit the Kindness Portal or Karmatube.

2 comments:

Lance 8 March 2009 at 23:53  

Hi Mimi,

Oh, that second story about the student in nursing school - that one touched me very deeply. Everyone IS important - and how easy it is to forget that. I'll relate a recent story. At a basketball tournament I was running. Some of the best advice I received was to get to know the custodial staff. Someone we'd typically walk right by. And yet, treat them with dignity, and do that sincerely - and I'd just earned myself any help I needed throughout the weekend. Simply by remembering a name, offering them a hand when I was free, and just genuinely caring. All because this advice was passed on to me...

Kindness...is so easy...and yet sometimes so elusive.

Mindful Mimi 10 March 2009 at 23:02  

Lance,
That story got to me too. It made me think. I do know the names of some of our security guys at work. Some I have a chat with on occasion. I do not know the cleaning ladies - mainly because I am never there when they are. But the one's I see I don't know. I do however always say hi, try to smile. It does make a difference.

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