When the world at large feels harsh, you have a choice. You can either amplify that energy, or you can add kindness.
This week has been filled with ugly racism, directed to people who have given their lives to public service. We have read about citizens and children treated inhumanely at our border. We even saw a 74-year-old universally respected man of honor and integrity yelled at by lawmakers who should know better. Robert Mueller was also subject to widespread bitter judgments about his cognitive ability. 
I posted a quote on my Facebook page by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel that received nearly 100 “likes” and numerous shares. Heschel wrote “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.” Why so many “likes”? Because his gentle wisdom is nourishing, and soul-healing in a week that has been bruising.
It is easy, and often understandable, to meet angry, cruel words and actions with the same. It may even be a knee-jerk response.
But I think it is far wiser to meet the brutality of the news with kindness in your own world. It could be in your own little universe. You might go out of your way to see how you can help a neighbor. You might tweet to someone how much you love what they have to say. Perhaps you smile and ask your cashier in a sincere way, how ARE you today?
Does being kind change the people who have judged, belittled, and been cruel in the wide world of politics? Probably not. But that is not the point.
This is about the quality of your own soul, what you create in your own universe and the nature of your own energy.
Do you speak out about injustice? YES, ABSOLUTELY.
But take a breath first, and ask yourself, are you adding to the ugly climate or are you creating pathways of kindness?
It’s about taking our power back to create the world we envision. We can do this together.
Rabbi Jill
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