#SelfReminder: Make Time For Kindness

artwork created by me, please credit me if you want to use it :)

Kindness has never been my strongest point. As a person who finds pleasure in time efficiency, I often don't have the patience to do kind gestures using the reason "it's wasting my time". As bad as it sounds, I don't want to do kindness insincerely, and I rather use the "quality over quantity" philosophy.

Don't get me wrong, I can be sincerely kind to people who matters to me, but I don't want to invest my time in things or people that won't give any positivity back to me. What I mean by positivity: make me have good mood and/or good vibes, enrich my knowledge & experience, teach me something useful in life. Stuff like that, you get it?

Anyway, yesterday when I was in the cinema, I was sitting next to a young man. With a little light coming from the movie screen, I saw his face and instantly knew: he has Down Syndrome.

He was sitting next to his mum, and while he was watching the movie he kept making grunting noises and waving his hands around. Throughout the movie, he kept doing that while his mum occasionally calming him down by rubbing his arm and stomach.

I had mixed feelings about the whole situation. The first thing I felt was annoyed. I HATE noises during movies. The impatient side in me wanted to tell his mum to quiet him down. And next, I feel awkward. Like I don't know how to react around them. Part of me wants to move to another empty seat on the front rows to avoid the whole awkwardness altogether and continue enjoy the movie. I stayed in my original seat in the end because I thought moving to another seat is rude and such an unnecessary gesture.

I'm not saying what I did is considered as kindness. However, I'm relieved I could be patient enough throughout the movie and (hopefully) didn't do anything that offend the young man and his mum.

It's that kind of situation that becomes a reminder to me of how sometimes, being kind is just the decent thing to do. I'm glad I didn't snap, not because it will make me look like a jerk, but more because how it will make me feel like a jerk.

Anyway, I know I'm far from being a good role-model in kindness department, but I guess I just have to do my best to at least be a decent human being. And perhaps, to make time to be kind to people from time to time.

I know this post talks about sensitive issue and I apologize beforehand if I offend anyone by writing this. I sincerely don't have any bad intentions towards anyone or people with Down Syndrome and their families. I could only imagine how challenging it is to be born with Down Syndrome or having a family member born with that condition.

My point of writing this whole post is to remind myself (and perhaps you who's reading this) to practice the act of kindness while having the patience to do so. It's a humane thing to think of taking the selfish and insensitive options in decision making processes in life, but I believe in the end it's the actions that we choose that count.

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!