A Simple Call for Unconditional Kindness

Normally, I try to wax all artistic, but not today. I'm gonna' strip as much pretense as I can for such a sappy subject.
Now before I go on, I'd like to say, for the record, I'm not a hippy. Not that I have anything against them, but even my own mom can call me an asshole and mean it.
Anyway:

There are three names I can remember from grade school, aside from my best friend who I keep in contact with today.
But three names and faces alone stick out among every other face I went to school with every day for years.
You know how many people I've been inexcusably unkind to?
Three.
Coincidence?
Think again.
And trying to use my young age (I'm talking about grade school shenanigans here) as an excuse isn't holding water.
If I wasn't mature enough to know the implications, they sure as shit weren't old enough to understand why someone was being cruel, and certainly not capable of dealing with such hostility in a healthy way.

So maybe chew on that the next time you've got a decision to make. If it's in response to something that really gets under your skin, or has somehow hurt you, know that being unkind gets deeper under your skin and does way more damage to you in the long run.

Then again, don't expect perfection. Allow yourself a slip, a snap, because then you might have the courage to say you're sorry if it's not such a big deal. It will only not be a big deal, though, if you have a long track record of kindness, otherwise the people around you won't and shouldn't give you that kind of breathing room,
I wish I could go back in time and say sorry when it would have made a difference.

That's all. Nothing grandiose. Just be fuckin' nice, y'all. Sounds simple, couldn't be more complicated, if you were to be honest about the amount of happiness you inject into the world. It costs you absolutely nothing to tell someone they have nice hair or their outfit looks good or that you appreciate them or that they're funny or whatever. It can cost someone else everything with just one simple act of cruelty.
So hold yourself accountable, for real. No delusions, just kindness.