What Price Human Kindness?

Do a good deed daily.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Practice random acts of kindness.

Help old ladies across streets. (Of course, you'd best be sure they want to cross, but I digress.)

Live with others in mind as you would have others keep you in mind.

Think good thoughts.

Help those less fortunate than yourself.

Be kind to animals.

All of these, from the Great Commandment, which Jesus gave to his disciples, proclaiming the rest to be what is essentially commentary, to the Girl Scout Motto, to the fell good by doing good of the 80's to whatever you want to call it today, are easily categorized. They are statements of the need for all of us to practice sharing that common cup filled with the milk of human kindness.

What is the milk of human kindness? You might need to ask that question these days.

We've come a long way baby from the infamous, "Greed is good," all the way to, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

Well, some greed as they say, is good. Without greed, we'd never work to achieve anything. Some greed, such as being hungry to do a good job, to help the company grow, to make the future brighter for our children, to increase the knowledge we have, to accumulation of skills so that we can serve others--all can be simplistically analyzed as a form of greed.

Then again, avarice, for the purpose of accumulating wealth alone, well that kind of greed is not so hot.

Today, we are told to reduce our consumption of everything. Reduce, reuse, you know the rest.

But we cannot reduce the amount that we accumulate in order to give to others. And, when the time comes as it comes all to often these days, there may be a time when you need the giving of others. You might not need goods, or food or money, but you might really need an act of human kindness. The good deed that someone can direct your way.

Don't call the religious stations. They will do you lots of good, but first they want ten percent of whatever you have, should have, or even don't have.

Don't call on those who are prone to labeling. For example, if someone has called you a &$#*($@ bitch, do not request even the smallest act of kindness. That said, don't stop being cordial with those folk, for they will eventually feel the heat of the coals of kindness you are dropping on their heads.

Around here, in Chicago, if you are sick or injured, asking a favor like a ride to the pharmacy or a trip to the grocery, or even a quick assist with putting a load of laundry in the basement washers, can run upwards of $10 per assist. That adds up quickly. Three loads of wash? That will be $30, thank you very much. Thus, if no money is coming in, none of that stuff gets done.

Others demand more. "I'll help you with the grocery trip, and can you make me a dress? And, do you have any of that lovely brown wool? You know, the same fabric you used to make that dress..."

Well, that wool was $30 a yard, the requestor's bulk means you'll need four yards of that precious wool, which means the owner of the new dress is gonna take me to the grocery every week for the next year, by my calculations. Ah, but one never says those realistic bargaining statements. Rather, the reply is, "Whaddya mean, that dress is gonna be worth $150?"

So, what is the cost of a cup of human kindness? I don't know. But I do know that I have no fresh food, dirty clothes, two broken shoulders, one bum knee, a very dusty apartment, and little if any help for any of it.