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Just a Bit of Kindness

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 30.

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Just a Bit of Kindness

Did you ever stop to think how beautiful kindness really is? In your walks have you ever met a young woman gently supporting on her arm an old, old man? He is blind. Time has brought silver to his hair. His steps are slow and feeble. With a cane he picks his way onward, all the way guided and directed by the one who is so good to him. At the crossing of a street she says, “Here is a step up. Careful now! Step up!” Or, “Now down! Carefully!” So on they go, chatting all the way, the old man seeing things on every side through the eyes of his companion. And how your heart was stirred by the sight!
Or a young man is watching the steps of his wee brother. Boys do not always have the patience to do that. But see how carefully this one guards his brother from everything that would harm him! The world has no sweeter sight than real, true, manly kindness toward one who is weak and needs help on life’s way.
On a stage-coach one day a number of passengers rode many miles together. One man drew into his shell, settled down on the seat, and never spoke a single word from one end of the journey to the other. Do you think that man looked beautiful to those who were his companions that day?
A little bit of steel struck by a mallet will chip away the hardest granite. Unkindness is the keenest steel in all the world for the chiseling away of beauty in face, life, and character. No matter how lovely the face might be in the beginning, if the one who possesses it gives way often enough to harsh and unkind words, the beauty will surely fade out of her face.
Do you want to be beautiful? Then be kind. Kindness costs something; it would be worth nothing if it did not.—Selected.