Let's Be Kind

"Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

-Plato

I have been both astounded and enlightened lately by the reactions of many in the social media world on thoughts of others. Blogging has become a very popular hobby and even career for many people in the last few years. Some who started blogs simply for a record of family adventures or a place to express thoughts have become widely popular over the years without the intention to have a worldwide audience. While it can be exciting, I am finding it can be all too stressful as well.

My little family blog is small and I don't expect it to become widely popular. I'm not trying to publicize it. It's still just a nice place to record our adventures, our lessons learned, our joys, our pains, our thoughts, and our feelings (mostly mine). I've thought in the past that it would be nice to have a large following and even make a little money off my blog. However, I am feeling the exact opposite lately.

Found here

I have to admit I'm human and I have read posts by popular bloggers and not always agreed with or appreciated their writing. I usually don't write my own posts concerning the subject (I hate confrontation or political rants) but I have made a comment or two on other posts concerning the subject. I am also in no way trying to prove someone wrong for their own thoughts that they have authored whether it be on facebook or a blog. We all have our opinions, our thoughts, and our beliefs. That is the beautiful thing about this world and the opportunities we also have to share them, which many don't. 

As we share we can enlighten, we can uplift, and we can strengthen each other. We can inspire new thoughts in another's mind. However, we can also degrade, and even shame people for their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs. I don't argue that we need to agree with everyone. I only argue that in our thoughts, no matter if they are spurred from our own or those of another, let's be more kind in how we say them. Let's be kind in our response. (Sara and Pamela, if you read this, I believe you were kind in your responses. It was actually comments from another blog that spurred most of my thoughts on the topic).

Found here

I rarely read or make comments on blogs for this very reason, only because I don't feel like it is my place to change the thoughts, feelings, or beliefs of another. I don't feel that it is my place to change the parenting style or decisions of another. I don't feel that it is my place to tell someone else that they are wrong. Let's let others share and hopefully, in return they will let us share respectfully. It's not wrong to kindly tell someone you disagree if the response is warranted, but once again, I hope we can be more kind in that response.

We all live in different circumstances. Some of us rich and others poor. Some with family and others single. Some with children and others without. Some of us with disease and others healthy. The list goes on. The things we share, while important to us, may seem trivial to another and vice versa. We may not understand the significance of something we value lightly, as precious to another. But, do we have to shame them for this? I don't believe so. If we offend we can apologize. None of us are too high or too low in life to remember the power of an apology.

Let's share our thoughts! Let's enlighten each other! While we are doing so, let's be kind! Let's be kind for all of us are fighting a hard battle. Your battle is different from mine, but nonetheless hard. May you be blessed in the battles you are called to fight.

Update: I found this morning that after writing this my thoughts were actually felt as accusing to someone I didn't  mean them to be. Most of my thoughts here were spurred by comments that were outright rude on a couple different blog posts I read lately. This post was not in response to any or all comments expressing respectful, honest feelings. It was only meant in response to comments I have seen that were disrespectful and rude (all by people whom I actually don't know, luckily). I apologize for that and realize that it only shows me even more why I should  be careful about what I write and how I write it when it concerns others. :-) That's all.