The test of kindness
April 18th, 2008, 7:53 pm Hobbies News
I am asking about kindness because my mother rang to thank me for sending her two postcards.
%26quot;Two?%26quot; I said.
%26quot;Two,%26quot; she said.
%26quot;But I only sent one,%26quot; I said, and then I remembered and I smiled and I said, %26quot;Good, so theres hope.%26quot; Theres hope that the world may yet be right way up. Though Americans may fail to see through Hillary Clinton, though Hagley Park may be overrun by boy-racers with giant exhausts and tiny gear-sticks, though Tony Blair may become Earths special envoy to the galaxy, though Kiwis may buy Steinlager because an American actor tells them to, though the Peoples Republic of Cuba may replace, in the name of the people, President Castro with President Castro, though Dancing with the Stars may find its way on to the front page of what was once a newspaper, yet there is hope.
A few weeks ago, you see, in Auckland, I bought a postcard, wrote a few words on it, stamped it and addressed it to my mother.
Shes 84. At 84 you dont want things, but you do want to be loved.
From bassinet to crematorium we all want to be loved. And postcards can be tokens of love.
I found a post-box despite the fact that they seem to become sparser every year, reached into my pocket and pulled out some shrivelled bits of dog food. But no postcard. It must have fallen into an Auckland gutter.
So I bought another card and posted that, and felt that I had done a little kindness.
But the lost card, stamped and ready to go, must have caught someones eye on the ground, and he or she did a greater kindness. He or she must have gone to the trouble of finding a post-box and popping it in.
I forget who said the greatest pleasure in life was to be caught doing good by stealth.
Well, whoever posted my card will never know that pleasure. He went out of his way to add something to the sum of human happiness but he sought no acknowledgment.
The question to ask is why? My puppy would never do such a thing. Though the puppy appears to dote on me it is only because I control his access to the good things in life: food, games and furniture to chew.
His motto is the Darwinian motto, %26quot;whats in it for me?%26quot; That also happens to be the motto of commerce. But it can never be the motto of society as a whole.
Because it is kindness that makes human civilisation possible.
Kindness means recognising the needs of others.
Kindness underlies courtesy, and the rule of law.
Kindness in one form or another must happen constantly and unnoticed as we go about our lives, because without it, there can be no trust. And without trust, civilisation crumbles. Without it, we can not live together. Without it, this world is dog eat dog. Without it we would all wear guns.
So, if you want to know how kind a citizen you are, complete the following rigorously scientific multi-choice questionnaire.
If you had found my postcard would you have posted it? a. Youve got to be joking.
b.Yes, if it was lying close to a post-box.
c.Yes.
d.Yes, even if Id had to walk 50 miles to the post-box in bare feet over cobra-infested broken glass.
Before posting it, would you have read it? a.I cant read.
b.Of course.
c.Yes, but guiltily.
d.No.
If you found $20 in the street would you …
a.whoop with delight and go straight to the pub, pausing en route only to look for a stamped, addressed postcard to use as a beer mat.
b.kneel, pretend to tie up your shoelace and slip the note into your pocket.
c.sit down nearby, wait five minutes to see if anyone came looking for it, then pocket it, take it home and wait for the guilt to die down.
d.pick it up, wave it above your head in search of the owner, then give it to charity.
If you answered %26quot;a%26quot; to all the above you are a dog. There is nothing wrong with being a dog. Dogs are honest.
If you answered %26quot;d%26quot; you are either a saint or dishonest. But if you answered %26quot;b%26quot; or %26quot;c%26quot; you lie somewhere on the muddied scale of humanity, between absolute kindness at one end and absolute selfishness at the other, along with all the rest of us. And if you recently picked up a postcard in Auckland and posted it, please let me know. I want to kiss you.
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