“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
No matter our scientific background, most of us watched with wide-eyed horror at the spread of Covid 19 through our communities, our country, our entire world beginning in the late winter and early spring of 2020. Someday we will look back and remember that in spite of the brightest minds working to stop this rapid spread, it seemed like nothing could hold it back.
A disease like the virus makes us feel hopeless. But maybe it should actually give us hope. That is to say, if a disease can start with a small group of people, but find its way throughout our entire world, why can’t kindness follow the same path? Surprisingly, there are many similarities, which Doug Fischer has pointed out.
We’ve always been told that even a small good deed goes a long way. But until this pandemic, we’ve never had proof of how something so small can indeed, spread so quickly and so widely. If a virus that people made every effort to stop could spread throughout the entire planet, think about how an act of kindness, which people are not trying to stop, could spread.
Have you not experienced for yourself, in the midst of the pandemic, how even one small act of kindness can go a long way toward seeding hope? Remember those moments of love in action from a family member, a friend, a doctor, a nurse, a grocery store clerk, a postal worker, a policeman, a teacher, an elderly neighbor, a small child, or even a complete stranger. Yes, small acts of love can, indeed, change us – and all those around us.
This change, however, isn’t guaranteed. Consider that the coronavirus, like love and kindness, affects different people in different ways. Some people will get the virus, and it will have little or no effect on their lives. This is indicative of those of us who experience kindness but our “immune” system is so strong that it wards off any consideration that we need to change our selfish ways of thinking or acting.
Other people don’t realize they have it, but they still spread it. We rarely think of a small act of kindness as having a life-changing effect on someone. But, like the virus, if someone experiences it at the deepest level, they will become “infected” with kindness and be more inclined to pass it on to others.
Because many viruses are highly contagious, during any epidemic or pandemic, we are wise to practice social-distancing from one another. But we’re even wiser to practice finding ways of connecting and sharing love at deeper levels than ever before, because kindness is even more contagious than the most virulent virus. No vaccine is ever wanted or needed against it. So perhaps coming down with a “love epidemic” is the perfect way to be lifted up.
Watering the Seeds
What acts of kindness have you witnessed or experienced during these challenging times?
What can you do today to spread a little love and kindness toward others?
