The word "Kind" is underrated.

    I grew up hearing regularly "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".

Okay, so I have not always said nice things in my life. I have gossiped.   I have said petty and unkind things.  But, key to this is, I have not said them on national television or in the newspaper or on Facebook.

  How am I supposed to encourage my child to be thoughtful, kind, considerate, generous and open-minded if what is available in popular media is all about ugly, unkind and petty?  I cannot even bring myself to watch or listen to the debates during this election season because I can't watch the arguing and verbal battling.  I can't help but be pessimistic about the future not of our government, but of our culture.  I am sad, frightened and appalled.   If the belief is that the best looking and the one with the best one liners wins, then who is going to be left?   Is patience, tolerance and acceptance really not a part of foreign policy?

    This blog is not really about my kid, but as she is old enough to vote this year*, I am wondering how she is supposed to understand and value the system in which we find ourselves.  Kind.   I think kind is highly underrated.

    I know it is naive, goodness knows that my mother, who was the one who told me "If you can't say something nice..." has said that in hindsight that is not how the world works.    So, how do we, you and I introduce the little darlings to the world at large and make "kind" count? 



*As she is out of the country,she will not be voting. Considering that she was planning on voting to cancel my vote just because she could, I am not sad that she is missing this opportunity.  Her decision would have nothing to do with her actual beliefs, but because she thought that it would be "funny".  Needless to say, I did not mention voting absentee.