Have courage to be kind

I think maybe my word this year should have been kindness.  Not so much because I need to be more kind (although that is always possible) but more because I need to be willing to see more kindness in others.  I need to be willing to overlook what seems to be so, and look harder at the intent.
Any act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  It helps us to heal and love and be better than we were before.  But part of seeing the kindness in others is learning to recognize it in the world around us.
I have really struggled this past year.  It has seemed to me that kindness is an old school value that has gone far, far out of style.  Even older people seem to forget how important kindness can be.  I have never had a year, quite like this one.  I have been yelled at, screamed at, criticized, called names, and even made fun of.  I have had my very morals and integrity questioned.
I am someone who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.  You pretty much have to try really hard to prove to me you are not trustworthy or kind.  This year, has shown me that many people are not.  That actually hurts my heart.  I want to believe the best of people.  I want to think they care and that they want things to be better.  I want to think that they might have a kernel of kindness in their souls.  It always surprises me and even shocks me when people are not.
One of the things I am discovering (more slowly than I would like), is that I have to look harder for those moments of kindness.  I have to really search and see that they are there.  When I find them, I have to dwell on those to avoid the others who are not that way.  But as I seek more kindness in the world around me, I am finding it.  The woman who lets the disabled man go in front of her because he is struggling to stand.  The man who lets the woman with 4 small children go first in the line at the grocery store because she only has a few things and he has a whole cart.  The people at the Post Office who bring my employees chocolate to make their day just a little brighter.  
There is kindness out there.  Sometimes, we just have to pay a little more attention to what is going on outside ourselves.  We have to have the courage not only to be kind, but to look for it in the world around us.  It is there if we are just willing to pay attention.