I have wanted to write an article like this for ages, but nothing really motivated me to do it.

But now I think that we all need to hear this more than ever.

It doesn’t cost you anything at all to be kind to others.

Be a human. Treat others how you would want to be treated.

I myself am a bit of a hypocrite in this case, as I get frustrated easily and end up yelling at people or getting upset. But I think that this is one of the most important reasons for writing this article. Not only for others, but for myself as well. 

The other day in one of my classes, I saw two students ganging up on another student. The one being picked on did not know something about adult life, it might have been how to write a check, and the other kids ridiculed him for it. 

They called him stupid, worthless, and all kinds of nasty things that I dare not repeat in this article. The worst thing, though, was how the picked on student let it happen. He didn’t fight back, even though it obviously hurt him. Maybe he thought that the students bullying were his friends. I’m not sure. But my friend and I who were doing our work could hardly stand it.

“Why can’t they just be nice?” I screamed in my head, “What does it cost to be kind?”

The further upsetting bit about this is that being kind isn’t regarded as a valuable character trait nowadays. The nice people in this world are known as pushovers and weak. 

In the business world, the more you bully and intimidate others, the more money you make and the more successful you are. In business, bullying is rewarded. With money.

If this is how we want our lives to be, then why don’t we just teach kids from the start to be bullies, to intimidate one another. 

In addition to this, I can specifically remember a time in elementary school when there was a boy who pushed me down the slide when I least expected it. He laughed and called me names that really hurt my feelings. I came home to my mom that afternoon in tears. 

When I told her what happened she simply smiled.

“It’s because he likes you,” she said.

Over the course of that year, the boy got more and more aggressive with me. Pushing me off of the monkey bars at recess, hitting me when I took “too long,” at the water fountain. I told myself that this was how love worked. The more that people hurt you, the more they like you. So when I heard of types of relationship abuse I was confused. I thought that meant they were in love. But it in fact was the opposite. 

Personally, I don’t think emotions are that hard to show and process. If you like someone, be nice to them. If you don’t like someone, don’t be mean to them. I think it’s that simple. Just. Be. Kind.