Kindness in the Time of Quarantine

Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.—Bob Kerrey

Lately, I have been thinking about “Kindness,” the moving poem written by Naomi Shihab Nye and published in 1995. “Before you know kindness,” she wrote, “you must lose things…” For this is a time when we as a world and we as individual people are going through loss. For some, it is deep heart-wrenching loss when a loved one passes away. For most of us, it is loss experienced in other ways–loss of financial security and loss of freedom of movement, loss of the loving contact of friends and family, the solace that comes from talking things over.

In the midst of this sadness, we become more aware of the acts of kindness around us. An eight year old with sidewalk chalk writes “I miss you, Emily,” on the walk in front of a friend’s home. Another writes “Thanks, Aunt Clare for the chalk!” and decorates her message with drawings of Easter bunnies and stained glass windows. Friends we haven’t heard from in ages email “How are you doing?” and “Thinking of you.” There have been lawn concerts before the dining room windows of nursing homes, drive-by birthday parties and retirement parades. Neighbors checking up on one another. Most likely, you know many other such instances.

At times like these “…it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,” as Shihab Nye writes, “only kindness that ties your shoes/and sends you out into the day…” And so we keep on. I love that poem, that reminder–to see the kindness around us, and do what we can to add to its increase.

–Lucy Adkins

Writing in Community likes to feature a writing prompt with each blog post, so here is your challenge for today!

• Read “Kindness” online. You can follow this link.
• Think of the kindness and beauty you see around you, the instances of love you have known.
• Then make a list of these kindnesses. Or list the experiences of beauty or love you have had. Try to come up with at least five examples.
• Set a timer for 20 minutes and begin writing. Here’s a starter phrase to get you going.

I have known______________(kindness or beauty or whatever you want to list)

Go on from there, and see where your writing takes you. Enjoy!

For more inspiration, and to learn more about Writing in Community, visit www.thewritingandcreativelife.com. Have a beautiful day.