In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
On the eve of what would have been our 52nd Anniversary there occurs every year on that date this proverb: “What is desirable in a man is his kindness,” Proverbs 19:22.
Kindness.
Not macho-ness; not prowess; but kindness.
Le Clerc, in his commentary, believes the intent is this: “there is no virtue a man ought to be so desirous of as benignity” – kindness and gentleness.
“It is the greatest ornament of human nature.”
I reflected on this after hiking this past Monday to the highest afforded view of the majestic Mt. Rainier from the trail above Lake George.
The mammoth peak in the distance hovers over lupine at my feet.
Mountain daisies, glacier and avalanche lilies, paintbrush, western spring beauties, pink mountain heather and more are a wild, wonderful profusion of color, flowers upon flowers sprinkled across subalpine meadows as if an unseen hand had tossed their seeds to the wind.
Of the twelve reasons to visit the mountain, listed first are the wildflowers.
Wildflowers are to the mountain what kindness is to a man: the greatest ornament both of hillside and human nature.
And perhaps the greatest threat to those wildflowers, and for that matter kindness?
People.
No doubt well meaning, the millions of visitors to the mountain can sometimes go off trail. And there, after having survived long winters and harsh conditions, these delicate tiny flowers struggling upward through the fragile subalpine soil can be trampled underfoot suffering sometimes irreparable damage.
And sometimes well meaning, our words, lacking kindness, can take us off trail, where people, struggling upward through burdens and brokenness unseen – and who does not at one time or another face harshness in life – can be trampled upon by our words, suffering sometimes irreparable damage.
Beauty – both of the mountain and of mankind – depends, mightily depends, upon being kind.
No better reason to visit the mountain than to behold the beauty of the meadows.
No greater virtue; impossible to be better described; unlikely to ever be discounted as unneeded than to be known for kindness.
In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
