That Concept Called Kindness

What drives us to give assistance, to lend a hand? Is it a deliberate act of kindness, or is it an innate, instinctual reaction implanted in our very being, the essence of who we are? if it is the former, then we understand, I presume, why some would simply pass by another of us in obvious need for help and not be bothered at all. Yet there would be others who would be horrified by such callousness and fly to the rescue. Is this callousness the color of many or just a dark reaction of a few hardened individuals?

A Small Analogy

What prompted these questions is a picture I saw a while back. It was about an elephant, a mother-elephant I believe, carrying the cub of a lioness walking alongside it as the pair sauntered across a road. I lingered on the picture for a bit to think. Could this be possible, or is this the result of Photoshop? My limited knowledge of these two animals is that they are mortal enemies! Yet these two were walking side by side as siblings or a contented couple. I was amazed! The caption below the photo indicated that the elephant was helping the tired lioness to carry the equally tired cub. That prompted the questions above.

The Nature of Kindness

Is kindness innate or learned? Our instinctual reaction to suffering seems to suggest that it is an attribute we are born with. Most of us are not able to sleep well knowing we left a fellow human being in suffering, whatever the cause of the pain. We are often, almost impulsively, ready to lend a hand, sometimes at the risk of our own safety. And if we cannot help for whatever reason, we agonize and we will usually go out of our way to find out about the well-being of the individual. Is this not instinctual and, therefore, innate?

The concept of kindness has been around since the ancients. Aristotle defined it in the “Rhetoric” as “helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped”. It has even been described, mathematically, as compassion ( C ), humanity (H), dignity (D), and respect ( R ). The variables (or virtues) equal the sum of everything together set in motion by just one person for all time.

Compassion in the formula suggests empathy, an attribute supremely human for the concern of others’ feelings. It is a virtue that can only be executed with the utmost humility and respect, bestowing dignity upon the actor.

Kindness Over Time

It is this attribute that has driven nations to build civilizations, albeit at the cost of untold suffering for those nations with less power and ambition to conquer. And in the wake of competition spawned by an insatiable appetite for possessions, kindness seemed to wane before the onslaught of cruelty. Kindness has come to be associated with the weak, mothers (and occasionally fathers) tending for their young. Unkindness is so rife that it is gaining the honor badge of being an intrinsic human attribute, almost.

Despite the seeming conquest of callousness, there is kindness all around us. All around the world, men and women volunteer to tend to the sick and infirm, the elderly, abandoned children, the homeless and those who struggle with life in general. Social media has made it possible for us to communicate instantaneously all over the world. That has fostered understanding and understanding encourages sympathy. With sympathy comes compassion and it is this that drives us lend a hand, almost instinctually.

At Wealthy Affiliate

At Wealthy Affiliate we share stories about ourselves in order to understand and know each other a little better. We share honest stories, not only about ourselves, but about our businesses too, our successes and challenges in order to assist one another for collective success. We are driven by a sense of kindness because we genuinely wish success for each other. Our collective success is the success of WA and its reputation as an ethical affiliate marketing platform.

We are also driven by a sense of reciprocity to drive and embed collaboration. That way we reinforce the spirit of accountability to ourselves in the first place because we run our own businesses but to others too in the community, again in order to enhance WA’s reputation.

All of this, in my opinion, is driven by a deep sense of kindness for most of us. Helping each other and other people out there is the focus in the beginning as we build our businesses. The monetary returns that follow later are the sweet and welcome rewards that enable us to continue in our quest to help others, with little concern for whence we come.

Like the elephant and the lioness who set their differences aside in order to assist the cub, so do we focus on our collective success. That is the end we have in mind. We begin with the end in mind.

The journey there is buttressed by kindness that manifests in the thorough training we go through; the assistance we give and get from chat room; the welcome messages to new members of the community; the training we design and give; the comments and feedback we exchange. And then we “pay it forward” by answering pertinent questions from the community.

That is the essence of the WA community.

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Awesomeness!
Mojalefa.