In today’s world, a careless word or Tweet can circle the globe faster than a shooting star can light up the heavens.
We move in a hyper-aware society, and it’s best to err on the side of kindness. As in, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Just recently, an author awaiting release of her debut novel found out that words put out into the ether can have unforeseen consequences.
This author had posted a picture and a comment on Twitter to shame a stranger. The situation quickly deteriorated. The Twitterverse attacked her for her actions, AND her publisher is delaying the release of her book AND the distributor has dropped her novel.
Maybe she can come back from this social blunder. Maybe not because the internet has a way to seek revenge. Users on Goodreads were quick to give poor reviews of the yet-to-be released novel based on the behavior of the author. And those reviews will never go away.
I think it's important to be on your best behavior and to be kind because you truly have no idea what someone is going through.
Last week, I was in a store and received possibly the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had.
My response? I smiled and told the lady I hope she has a great weekend. Believe me, I felt quite frustrated. But as I was waiting, I overheard her tell someone that her adult son recently died in an accident. I’m not a confrontational person anyway, so I wouldn’t have said anything, but the point is that she was in a fragile state of mind and was working through a heartache I hope to never realize.
I like this quote. It puts the focus on your your own behavior regardless of what kind of treatment you run into. Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you — not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown
My thought is that life is hard. It costs nothing to give someone the benefit of a doubt. I talked about practicing kindness, that forgotten virtue, a few months ago here.
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author unknown
Let's practice kindness, be on our best behavior, and make our little portion of the world a nicer place, shall we?