Brian Park – Contributor

I have a friend, and at the first opportunity, they will find a way to tease or taunt you with a multitude of mischievous methods. No longer susceptible to this friend’s evil ways, I began responding to his “ragebait” by saying, “you know it costs nothing to be kind.” However, one day he called me out and asked what exactly that meant. I then started wondering if it truly does cost nothing to be kind.

Image courtesy of Brian Park

To delve into this topic, it is necessary to define what it means to be kind. To be kind is to take the extra steps past the normal social contracts we all live by. The social contracts we live by include any laws of our society, whether it be as large as not participating in grand heists, or as small as stopping your car at a red light. To go one step beyond this would be taking actions that you are not lawfully obligated to do, but to help someone else’s day become simpler or comforting, to show someone else compassion, to keep the goodness of the human experience alive. 

Now, what does it cost to be kind? Or, more so, what components of social interactions keep us from carrying out acts of kindness? Well, from personal experience and from avid people watching, fear is a large factor that may halt us from performing kind acts. Fear of being caught in a socially awkward interaction of holding the door open for the person behind you, only to see that the individual is the innocent bystander that was subject to seeing you throw up at the bar the night before. Or fear of losing your “nonchalant aura” by going out of your way to pick up someone’s fallen belongings, only to see they are already in the process of picking it up. Or maybe you just don’t want to get your roommate a glass of water, as you fear the impending comment of being called a “good boy.” Now, although it is possible that carrying out kindness may catch you in an unwanted social interaction or it may seem uncool, it should not halt us from helping someone out, no matter how small the action may be. 

All in all, being kind should not be something to fear, and it shouldn’t create an environment where you cannot have a silly goose time and tease your friends, as being kind does not contradict the latter. So go ahead, ask your friend who the 43rd president of the United States was, and when they say George W. Bush, push them into a bush. But then reach out your hand and help them up, and if they are somehow hurt, buy them a junior chicken for their sorrows. In all seriousness, however, be kind. Help the senior citizen carry their groceries home, walk that little bit faster so that the turning vehicle can stop holding up traffic, and hold the door open for the student rushing to class behind you. Be kind just to be kind; it may just brighten up someone’s day.