There are several parks within twenty minutes of my home. I am blessed, for certain, in this regard. They allow refuge from people and proximity to wildlife. I am able to think and walk, which is when I do my best thinking. Today I thought about kindness. A lot of humans have it backward. First, we often assume the worst about others. For that reason, they must earn our kindness. I think society would improve if we practiced undue kindness instead—being nice to everyone for as long as possible, regardless of negative feedback. Second, the limiter for undue kindness would be the point at which being kind has lost its value for the moment. That is, until the person or situation can no longer benefit from your kindness. For example, an ignoramus who constantly refutes your attempts at congeniality with verbal, emotional, or another abuse has passed the point. But this is similar to a turn-the-cheek method, so one would not abandon undue kindness until all efforts to establish rapport have failed and hostility on the part of the other party has won dominance.

For those of us with hot tempers, this is hard.

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