“Don’t confuse kindness with weakness.” So said John Travolta in an interview recently. Yes! THE John Travolta.
We are busy. We are overloaded with work, tasks, getting somewhere, and taking care of our children, our parents, our employees, our partners, our spouses, the lot. There is an endless list of demands for our time. There is an endless list of daily tasks. This stress deprives us of our presence.
We have survived as a species due to some amazing traits we possess, or rather, the part of our species that did not acquire these traits became extinct very quickly. Steve Pinker published a book in 2011 called “The better angels of our nature.” The title of the book was taken from the first inaugural address of U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln. The phrase is a metaphor for some of our core human traits — Love, Friendship, Teaching, Child Rearing, Cooperation. In brief, what sociologists call our social suite and morality.
Mostly these traits are unique to humans. We all understand what they are and most of us possess these traits in abundance. So, when do they all disappear? Why is it that we do NOT hear more about these amazing capacities, which have formed the basis of our survival and success? Imagine a Twitter storm arising from “Today Mr. Smith did 15 good deeds of compassion for poor and deprived souls.” Hardly the headline that creates a…
