Holding the door open for one person behind you is being nice. Holding the door open for everyone behind you is being kind. Kindness and niceness are not the same thing; both are great, but only kindness leaves a mark.
Don’t you prefer receiving homemade cards over store-bought cards? Yes, it is the cheaper option, but that’s not important. When someone gives you a homemade card, they take time out of their day to make it for you, and they thoroughly think about what to write and decorate it with. Giving someone a store-bought card is nice, whereas a homemade card is kind.
There are many other examples where the difference between “nice” and “kind” can be seen, but the aftereffect of each is more important to understand.
Kindness has more of a rippling effect than just being nice does. According to Channelkindness.org, from a 2021 survey of over 2,000 students, 93 percent said that kindness helped them move forward in the past year. And this isn’t only kindness to others. Being kind to yourself is just as important.
It doesn’t only affect the recipient but also the donor. According to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, doing an act of kindness can distract you from some of the problems in your own life, so you will gain more perspective on your own problems. So there’s no harm in being kind. Even if the recipient doesn’t care or notice you, you still have that good moral and content feeling that at least you tried.
Witnessing acts of kindness can also produce oxytocin, which is a hormone that helps lower blood pressure and volume. And when you see someone else being kind, you’re more likely to be kind as well.
This can even be seen on social media. Around this past Christmas, there was a trend on TikTok that involved going to a store and shopping for the Angel Trees that get donated to the Salvation Army. According to WKYC.com, the numbers were up 70% across the board. And even if some of those acts of kindness were premeditated, the positive effects were still there. A new TikTok trend will come along next week, but all those kids possibly had the best Christmas they have ever had in a long time.
But moving forward, kindness should not just be saved for the holidays. You don’t have to make some grand performance; the little things matter too. Being kind is a gift to those around you and yourself.
Here at school, there are many ways to show kindness. The cafeteria is constantly a mess, so take a few extra seconds to clean up after yourself. You might not think it makes a big difference. But once one person does it, other people will follow. Or planting sticky notes with nice messages. Social kindness is important too, like inviting people to sit with you at lunch or helping a classmate with an assignment.
Being kind is about planting a seed and letting it grow. When you buy flowers for someone, the real seeds will die eventually, but the way you made that person feel will last.
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