True Kindness

         ”Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see”

                                                                                           - Mark Twain

A friend of mine recently recited that brilliant quote to me, and then went on to say that a lot of people mistaken kindness for politeness, but that is not true kindness. I have never thought about it that way, but I think that she is absolutely correct. Politeness is something that can be taught, and it’s a lot easier to be polite than to be kind. Politeness is displayed to conform to social expectations, whereas kindness can be altruistic and most importantly, involve empathy. This makes me question my own actions: Am I kind, or am I just polite? Of course it could be both, but I have never really thought about it until now.

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