In addition to saying yes, I want to focus this year on being kind. There seemed to be a run of unkindness at work this past weekend...maybe it's a continuation from all unkindness in the nation this month. I was yelled at by a patient's family and felt like an idiot before 8 am. Two of my lovely coworkers were also made to feel less than awesome before the day was over. I know being in the hospital is stressful for people. It's hard to be nice when you feel miserable or a loved one is suffering. I have been there. I get it. BUT it's also not okay to take it out on the people around you. I know I'm been there too so that's why I am committing to kindness this year.
Since returning from India I have struggled with how to take my experience there and integrate it with my life here. My experiences with the kids and the people of India seem so removed from my every day life. It is so quiet and clean here. I have space to breath and move around. I can go for a run and drink the water without getting sick. I don't fear for my life when I get in a car.
It finally hit me yesterday the part of India that I miss the most that I did bring back...the joy and the kindness that was shared with me by all the kids and staff at the Good News Campus. I shook hundreds of hands and received hundreds of smiles. The kids thanked me after each medical exam. They giggled and smiled when we served them lunch. The caretakers wouldn't let us do any extra work if they could help it. We would try to fill water buckets for the bathroom and they would take them from our hands. We would try to carry boxes and they would take them from us. The caregiver, Agnes, that I worked with doing medical assessments wouldn't even let me pump my own hand sanitizer if she could help it. The joy and kindness that abounded was UNREAL. The kids and caretakers have SO little by our standards but they were nothing but kind to me.
So this is my takeaway. I traveled halfway around the world and experienced abundant kindness. On behalf of those 500+ beautiful children, I can take their kindness and share it with the people around me...even the ones that yell at me at 7:30 in the morning.
I find it easier to be kind to strangers, coworkers and friends then I do my family at times. My family knows me and loves me anyway. So, it's easier sometimes to be short or snotty because I know they are bound to love me still. BUT, I am going to work even harder on kindness here. I can't just commit to what's easier. My family deserves the best of me so I will try. I won't always get it right...nobody does. But I will keeping work on it. At least I have the surplus of 500 smiles, hugs and handshakes working in my favor.
You are amazing--and inspiring. Thank you.
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