Thursday, January 09, 2014

Kindness

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or abilities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
This quote is attributed to William Penn. Yes, THAT William Penn, the one who founded Pennsylvania.

 When I was a child, my mother would often quote this, in an abbreviated verson. Where she got it, I don't know, but I doubt she knew it was from William Penn. She truly believed it. I would hear her say kind things to people. Little did she know the seeds she was planting in me.

In fact, I didn't even think about it until I was thinking of what to write for this post - as part of Mary England's Kindness day.

Mom will be 100 in 10 days. She doesn't know this, nor would she even know me at this point, but because of her I'm a kinder person. And that would make her happy.

Be kind. It costs nothing. You only pass this way once.

Note: for those of you who believe in reincarnation, you get to be kind many times over, I guess.

Thoughts?


5 comments:

uncustomary said...

That's such a great quote! I'm going to put it in my journal. Thanks so much for participating, Mim!

Michelle said...

Great quote! Much of my natural kindness and thoughtfulness comes from my dad, too. (Not that my mom isn't, but my dad is the nicest person in the universe.) It's nice to have kindness role models because you know they spread the joy in their lives too!

Margie said...

Wow, you've got some longevity going on on your side I f the fam! Yay, and happy birthday to your momma. Clearly smart and wise too.

chris said...

Do unto others.............always want people to be kind or say kind things to me so.......you're right, you never know how an act of kindness can influence another person. It's easy to be kind.

oliviarrow said...

That's a wonderful quote! Wishing your mom a very happy birthday - a century is sure something to celebrate!

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