Kindness feels underrated in recent years. Yet the world would stop spinning without it. I wouldn’t be able to go on. It comes from family, friends, and strangers every day of my life as a driving force for good in the world.

It is also just as vital to my survival to give kindness as well as to receive it. It makes my life brighter when I do something for someone else out of kindness; no expectation that it is returned, but perhaps hoping it is passed on. Acts of kindness give life value and purpose.

I believe that old addage: Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. For me, the kindness leads to beauty. There’s nothing like seeing a tired cashier’s face light up because you gave them a kind word, or a man laugh because a woman held the door open for him.

May kindness be part of your every day life, both the giving and the receiving with an open heart.