Kindness

The last word was tautology.

I've been thinking about kindness lately.

And how important it is.

There are people in this world to whom kindness is inherent. They are naturally considerate. They take other's viewpoints into account. They are just nice and when greeted with someone else's kindness they respond with even greater enthusiasm and generosity of spirit.

And then there are those who take kindess as their due, but who don't return it. They are blank, they are accept but do not give. They offer up very little to the world as a whole and somehow still make people want to please them. It's not that they are mean, it's just that they are a kindness black hole.

Some people are sneakier. They are only kind to their loved ones. They are nice as long as the world at large doesn't know. They have great hearts but only shine their light under a bushel.

And then there are a few who really are mean. The Scrooges of the world who I think are more prevalent on television than in real life.

I've sorta always thought that this was just how people were made. Some who have a generous spirit and some who don't.

But I'm starting to wonder... Is kindness a continuum that you can progress (and regress) on?

If you pour enough into a black hole will you find out they are not a black hole but just a really large vase?

Or will he/she always be a black hole?

Can Scrooge and the Grinch really be transformed by a Christmas miracle or are they really always gonna be a Scrooge and a Grinch?

How inherent are people's characteristics?? It's sorta like wondering if my favorite color is ever gonna change. Am I going to wake up one day and discover it's chartreuse rather than cerulean?