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Leon Bibb: Thank you for your kindness

On World Kindness Day, lessons from Leon's mother, Georgia Bibb, to remind us how small acts can go a long way.

CLEVELAND — These are challenging times. Unkind actions don’t help it.

Our newscasts are filled with stories of unkind acts, so someone came up with "World Kindness Day" for Nov. 13, not that we needed a special day. It ought to be every day.

What about we focus on random acts of kindness? We can actually save the world bit by bit everyday. We are all anxious in this pandemic. It puts us on edge. We have to be careful not to let those inner edgy feelings boil over to negatively effect someone else’s life.

Just after I got off my mother’s knee, she was first to school me on the importance of kindness. If I spoke in a harshly in the schoolyard, Mom got wind of it.

"Leon Douglas Bibb, you apologize right now!" she would say.

Her words still echo in my memory. The world could use a little of my mother on kindness.

Many of us get it. Those acts of kindness really are the real foundations of human life. Daily, we see kindness all around us. It ought to be everyday; for many people, it is.

Look at the little children. In their play, they understand kindness. They learn it in the earliest years of elementary school: "Play fair. Watch your words. If you borrow crayons from your neighbor, return them when you are finished with them."

Think about how much better our world would be if nations did that, and people were kind to each other. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition, which bridges the divide of race, religion, politics, gender, and even zip code.

Something to think about on this World and National Kindness Day. Oh, by the way, thank you. You were kind to listen.

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