Lessons in kindness

This time of the year, it seems that for the most part everyone around is in the proper mood to be extra kind. From giving to charities, to holding doors open, or letting the car that is pulling out of the side street on to a street with bumper to bumper traffic, most people are just a little bit more kind at this time of year.

As parents we try to instill in our children how important it is to be kind and loving to our fellow man. We do things at this time of year to remind them how to be extra kind. We give them the change to put in the bell ringers bucket, we get tags from the angel trees, we have them choose gifts for their teachers and friends, and not to automatically expect that their friends will do the same for them.

Then something happens and you wonder where that persons parents were to teach, or not teach them as the case maybe, about kindness.

Working in retail this time of the year, you see it all. The harrassed parents, the excited children, the happy grandparents, and yes the grinches of the world.

I had a couple today that just amazed me at work, and not in a good way. We (the loader and I) were busy helping a customer load his vehicle with pavers, and this other couple was in a "Its all about me" type of mood. Nothing that the loader or I said or did made this couple happy, and I am waiting to hear that they complained to the upper management about the two of us.

I reminded myself as they left that they were an older couple, and that perhaps the holidays were not a happy time for them. But I have a feeling that for this couple that is not the case.

I can not make everyone happy, no matter how much kindness I try to have.