By Jon Scott

Kindness, think about it.  There are many things now that refer to kindness.  Speaking of kindness, Saturday, November 13, is World Kindness Day.  Kindness is something that can be beneficial, but to others it may not be beneficial especially important.  Kindness is something that can be defined in many different ways.

The web definition of kindness is somewhat unclear but can be defined in four different ways.  Kindness can be defined as, “The state or quality of being kind.”  Kindness can also be defined to, “A kind act; favor, kind behavior and friendly feeling; liking.”  Junior Tyler Hix states, “My definition of kindness means many things.  If you see someone struggling with something, you step up and do what you do to help out.  Also, having a mind set of giving everything possible to make you, or someone successful.  Tone has a lot to do with it.  If you don’t have a right tone, someone will take it in a different way.”
From time to time, everyone will be forced to work with people that he/she may not like.  Sometimes, the way people act sets off what kind of person he/she is, such as crazy or wild.  Sophomore Bobbie Jo Stiles explains, “Kindness – The way people act; their attitude towards life.  People that are very giving and caring, and respectful.”  It does not matter where ones kindness is at as long as that person has at least some kindness in them.  Senior Samantha VanVoorhis says, “Kindness is finding it in your heart to be friendly towards anyone no matter who they are or what people say about them.”
Kindness is something that everyone should have.  Unfortunately, a lot of people have to find ways to put someone else down.    Most of the time students do not know who is talking about them because it is behind their back, but later find out.  Being  kind 24/7 to everyone, even people one may not know or may not like is better than not meeting new people or just not being kind. When one is being kind, more positive things will come out of it rather than negative.  VanVoorhis says, “It is a very good idea to be kind to everyone because you never know when you will need a friend by your side.”
Stiles explains, “I believe that everyone should try to be kind to everyone.  You might not like them, but you should at least respect them.”  Getting respect out of someone is just as important as finding kindness in yourself.  Sometimes the respect issue goes both ways to where they both have to earn it.  Some people may find kindness the same way.  “There aren’t any good or bad reasons, at least you’re trying your best to be kind, and helpful to someone who is reading or wanting something,” explains Hix on whether or not he thinks it is a good or bad idea to be kind.  Some people do not think that one should be nice to everyone, including people one despises greatly.  Who knows maybe 15 years from now, maybe one will need that person they hate now.  Wheat says, “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad.  I’m not sure.  If you’re nice to someone you don’t like, then I define that as being ‘two faced,’ but others I believe that’s being kind.”
When someone thinks of kindness, everyone thinks about something different.  When one thinks of kindness, some may think of helping out the elderly while some may think about teachers that they know.  Wheat says, “ I think of old people, because you should always be nice to them.”  Being nice to people older then what we are, we were all taught that at a young age.  Help out others in times of need is very kind and also respectful.  VanVoorhis explains, “When I think of kindness, I think of helping others out when they need you the most.”  One does not necessarily have to know the other people just in order to help them out.  By helping out other people and being kind and respectful to people one does not know, it sometimes leads to making new friends.  Hix states, “ When I think of ‘kindness,’ I think of Mrs. Gifford, because she is an outstanding teacher who shows kindness and shows why she wants you to be successful.  Her tone is a loving tone, which welcomes you in, and becomes interested.”
The majority of people have their kindness hidden inside of them, but in some, everyone can notice it.  There really isn’t a good/bad side to having a hidden kindness.  Sometime ones kindness just depends on the type of mood that they are in.  Hix explains, “My kindness is hidden because I feel that the only people that are really going to notice are my friends.  There are however, some opportunities when I am kind to people, especially when their actions and emotions are low.”  Mood has a lot to with your kindness.  One day one person could be nice and be talking to anyone and everyone and the next day, that same person could be anti-social.  Wheat says, “It just depends on my mood because I’m not nice to anyone when I’m not having a good day.”  Sometimes kindness is just kept to oneself, and no one notices it until someone holds a conversation with the person.  VanVoorhis explains, “I feel like my kindness is more hidden inside of me rather than shown to everyone because I usually just keep to myself.”  Stiles explains, “well I try to be kind all the time, but it just does not always happens, but everyone has good and bad days.”  Ones kindness depends on their mood and everyone likes the good days rather than the bad days.
Giving people tips to be kind can be really helpful.  There are many more positive tips than what there are negative tips when it comes to kindness.  Stiles states, “Respect them and try to help anyone in need.  Those are the two major things that everyone wants at some point in life.  So do for someone as you’d want done for you.”  On some occasions, kindness can be kind of misleading in some people, such as nice to one person, and torture someone else.  Wheat says, “Don’t fake your kindness.  It’s misleading.”  People faking their kindness is something that has been done one too many times.  It is someting that only that person can fix.  One may not feel the need to be more kind to everyone, regardless of who they are, but why continue to put others down?  Just because one may not like the other person, does not make it fair for the other person to be mean to him/her.  “Kindness is nice to have because you never know the hardships that they could be going through, so it’s better to be nice to everyone,” says VanVoorhis.
The majority of the times, many people do things for other people from the inside and does not want/ask for anything in return.  Sometimes, however, some people will try to offer and if one refuses, they may try to secretly return your favor.  Hix concludes by saying, “Do what you can to help out, you never know what you may get in return.  If you help someone, even if you don’t get anything, you should have the feeling in your heart of ‘I did something great.’”  Kindness is just something that a lot of us do not just start a conversation about.  Finding kindness on the inside is one of the most important parts of life.  It does not really matter if the kindness is hidden or if the kindness shows to everybody, but what is important is that everybody has at least a little kindness somewhere in them.