What is Kindness? -- Karlee Sanders

What is kindness? By definition, kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. It's a desirable quality amongst friends, peers, family, and romantic partners. To me, kindness is something that everyone should strive to have. It's the glue that holds relationships together. For instance, you can't make a friend without being nice to them first. People who show kindness are liked more than people who are crabby and mean. It's just that simple. If you're mean, people won't like you. Would you like to be friends with a kind person, or a mean person? I'll let you think that one over.
Quite often I hear the saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." That saying helps to explain why kindness is so important, it helps build people up, not break them down. Kindness comes from within, and if your mind isn't making any kind comments toward another human being, then maybe you shouldn't say anything at all. I'm not here to be the mom blog-poster, but that saying is certainly something I agree with.
Kindness is also defined as a kind act. When you do a kindness for someone, you are helping them or doing something pleasant for that person. I'm sure that you've heard the phrase, "a random act of kindness". These random acts are anything from paying for someone's meal, surprising a stranger with a gift, or simply holding the door for someone just because you feel like being polite. Many people say that these random acts of kindness restore their faith in humanity as a whole. Kindnesses reassure others that there still is good in the world, despite all the negative influences.
 So, if you've read this far, I encourage you to be kind today. Play nice and don't be petty or mean. Try to do something kind for someone else. Og Mandino once said, "Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."