Life Is The School

“Life is the school. Love is the lesson.” Stuck in traffic, I read those words on the bumper of the car in front of me. What an incredibly simple, yet powerful message.

I recently attended a gymnastics competition where several young girls posed on stage to receive a team award. Each girl was meant to help hold the team trophy, as they posed for a group photo. The trophy was pulled away from one of the youngest girls as she attempted to take part. She struggled to be seen in the photo and to be a part of things, but one of the older girls pushed her aside. When the photos had been taken, and the gymnasts left the stage, the young gymnast brushed tears from her cheeks as she went to sit down. How unnecessary that was, in my opinion. There was plenty of room for the entire team on the platform. There was enough victory for everyone. The joy of winning could have easily been shared by all the girls. I wished the situation had been different for her.

Kindness and love are important to me. I want it from others, so I do my best to give it to people. I started living that way because I believe in the principle behind the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated. Over the years, it had become painful and unpleasant to treat others badly. Gradually, I changed my behavior. For me, at the end of the day, it just feels better to be kind.

As I continued living this way, I realized that my love for others and my kindness to others was actually changing the atmosphere of certain situations. That made me feel good, too. I was affecting the situation; making it better. I had guided the situation in another direction.

One summer evening in 1969, when I was a small child, I fell through a glass door. The day of my accident, my parents had been distraught about my dad’s lost wallet. There was a lot of panic, discussion, worry, searching, and overall stress that day because of the fear of lost cash, credit cards, and a few photos. Later that day, at the hospital, in the emergency room, the lost wallet was the furthest thing from my parents’ thoughts. Money had suddenly become very insignificant.

We, as adults, have the power and the responsibility to instill kindness in our children. We owe it to our children and to future generations to speak openly and candidly about kindness and respect for others. I firmly believe that kindness and love are just as important as what is or isn’t happening in the stock market. I know there are people who would disagree. They put kindness much lower on their priority list. I think that’s a mistake. To be honest, I’m not very interested in the stock market. Most of that type of thing is out of my hands. I’m more interested in things that have an eternal impact. For me, that thing is love. The “power of one.” Small, individual acts of kindness and love are like pebbles thrown into a lake. These acts of love flow outward. You can choose to be loving. And when you do, you make the world a better place, forever.

Reflections

I was happy to write my essay. I love the “This I Believe” series on NPR. Listening to others’ beliefs is both enlightening and interesting to me. Thank you for providing a venue for folks to submit their essays.

~Julie Butler