Battles

Oct 25, 2021

Yesterday, I saw several people I care about hurt and (quite) angry. To be honest, I didn't feel quite good myself last Saturday. "Well, it's only normal, we are human, life's hard, man up, blah blah blah", might say someone whose intentions could be good, but not really helpful.

Yeah. Life's hard. But it doesn't change the fact that kindness changes things for all of us.

Kindness could make the difference between a person smiling or crying. Between someone being bullied or not. And so on and so on.

What's worse, most battles are invisible. We don't carry a tag on our foreheads that says "hey! Look at me! I'm hurting!" Or "Hoi! Help! Abuse Victim" No. We simply carry on with our daily lives and hope that we survive the process. Most of us do albeit some only do so, barely.

Yep, it might be a process too hard to digest for some. It might be like torture. I guess we have all been there at one point. And if not, consider yourself lucky. I know there were moments throughout my entire school years when I just wanted to disappear. As I learned from Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, I wanted nothing more than to get one myself. But hey: life is no fantasy book, and, as people say in Germany "das Leben ist kein Ponyhof" - the literal translation is "life is not a pony ranch", which is the equivalent to the beautiful English "life is not a walk through the park." No, I'm not German, I'm actually Mexican, but I'm desperately in love with languages and their idioms.

Back at my topic: life is hard for all of us. We don't know others' life, and we don't need to make it harder by being mean. We can actually try to help those who feel low, and that's what actually makes us human.

I honestly wonder how many times I have felt desperate as if life had no solution. I remember a time when it was as if I were attempting to crawl out of a black hole. Cold. Empty. Hopeless.

I struggled to do the basic things like washing myself or buying a piece of bread, just because fear, anxiety and many other factors made that too hard. But some people didn't shun me out: there were a few who even gave me options. Granted: there was some vermin I still can't believe they dare call themselves human... but most of them were amazing. Those situations merit posts of their own.

But honestly:

When people are kind and don't see the exterior -a grumpy face, dishevelled clothing, loud words, etc.-, they can work miracles.

Think about that. Kindness is better.

And honestly, in a world where people are seen as assets, where "it is normal", "we all go through that", "you need to get over it", it's way stronger to be compassionate than to be a robot.

I've left more than a job because I've seen how people were disposable to them. Maybe silly, I know. We live in capitalism after all. But honestly? I'm glad I did. It meant standing up to my beliefs. It meant standing up to believing that people are actual human beings, not robots, not dead tools, not simple money-making machines. And I'm proud of that. Yeah, I might have a reputation of a rebel and a problem-maker. But guess what? I'm kind to those who need a hand.

We need kindness. Especially when it is harder to be kind, when no one knows you need to be so. Try to see those around you. That neighbour who seems stressed all the time. That cheeky teenager who seems to be a problem around school. You don't know the reasons behind all that. Be kind. Be nice.

Of course, they might be horrid jerks, and then the only thing you'd win is the knowledge that you did something nice for yourself.

But who knows? Maybe they are fighting a battle you didn't even imagine. You might become an invaluable ally. Life can only get better from there.

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