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What makes an act kind? The dictionary definition of kindness, according to en.oxforddictionaries.com, is “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” But I would like to venture further and say that kindness has to cost you. Kindness is always a sacrifice. It is not a win-win. It is laying down your own agenda for just a little while so that someone else can benefit. That being said, in my experience, kindness can be fun. It can make one feel affirmed. But before one comes to this realization he must first humble himself. He must give up his wants and needs; he must put his cravings and desires on hold. Kindness is going out of one’s way. It will always benefit the other person. It is having the mindset that “I am about to do something for someone else and not for myself,” that makes an act kind.
This year I have the opportunity to do an act of kindness that I already did last year. I volunteer with an organization called For the Nations Refugee Outreach. I will be teaching during the summer program for the month of July. It lasts Monday through Friday throughout the whole summer. As a volunteer, I can choose to teach for one week or more. Last year I was able to volunteer for five weeks and this year I can volunteer for four.
Teaching children is delightful at times, but takes great patience, especially when the children do not speak any English. But because of FTNRO, these children will have a better time when they go back to public school in the fall. At the summer camp we teach ESL, Bible, Reading, and Math. We play outside and serve a snack. Every Friday, the children go on a field trip. As volunteers, we do everything we can to make sure that the youths have fun and learn as much as possible.
Last summer I was able to form beautiful relationships with the students; to the point where they respected my authority and yet were glad to see me again every morning. I was glad to see them as well. In fact, I mourned the end of the summer and now look forward to teaching them again. I saw growth in their reading and math skills in just a few short weeks and took it upon myself personally to help my students in the areas where they struggled most. I did what I could to encourage them and to nudge them forward in their learning.
I found last year that volunteering at this outreach requires small, but humbling, personal sacrifices. Every morning I had to go to work at 6:30 am, only to leave at 8:30 and drive through morning traffic to be at the camp at 9. The Texas summer days were almost un-breathably hot and I found myself sweaty and sticky when the children had all boarded the bus at the end of the day. Sometimes I went away discouraged when the children forgot what I had taught them the day before or wasted our learning time with tantrums and the like. I often had no chance to eat at all that day until I returned home at around 1 pm.
But, if I had been worried about these sacrifices, if I had been worried about myself, I never would have had the chance to help these children. I would never hear them read entire books in English or jump rope with them. I would never see them win a prize for their math skills or sing for joy.
Pure kindness brings true joy because there is no need to go in thinking, “what’s in it for me?” It is not a means to an end. If someone were to offer me reimbursement for my labors and car fuel, would I really have thrown my heart into the task? Would I have been able to focus on the children for who they were and not just see them as my meal ticket? I truly believe that the children benefitted much more because of the kindness of volunteers. Being a volunteer says, “It’s not about me.” Yet we can choose kindness even when we are paid to do something. We can go into work with the question, “How can I go out of my way to help someone today?” “How can I lay down what I want, and be kind? We have the chance to be kind every day. Let us take and seize the opportunities offered to us with gladness and humility of heart.
