“Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes, gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people, with all of their best years ahead of them. Now, one useful thing you can do with old people is ask: «Looking back, what do you regret?» And they’ll tell you. So: What do I regret? In seventh grade, this new kid joined our class. She was small, shy. She wore these blue cat’s-eye glasses. When nervous, which was pretty much always, she had a habit of taking a strand of hair into her mouth and chewing on it. She was mostly ignored, occasionally teased. And then—they moved. That was it. One day she was there, next day she wasn’t. Now, why do I regret that? Why, forty-two years later, am I still thinking about it? Relative to most of the other kids, I was actually pretty nice to her. But still. It bothers me. What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. Err in the direction of kindness.”
(freely taken from George Saunders, Congratulations, by the way. Some Thoughts on Kindness, Random House 2014)
Kindness is a bond that keeps all humans together, as well as an essential ingredient to keep them connected with the Earth. Kindness is not a duty, it’s a necessity. Let’s look after its seed, and the plant will grow lush; and it won’t be alone, since there will be a whole forest.
10 SUGGESTED READINGS
CONGRATULATIONS, BY THE WAY. SOME THOUGHTS ON KINDNESS
George Saunders, Random House 2014
ON KINDNESS
Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor, Penguin 2009
THE VERY PERSISTENT GAPPERS OF FRIP
George Saunders, Random House 2000
LE GOÛT DE LA POLITESSE
Bertrand Buffon, Transboréal 2008
SIATE RIBELLI, PRATICATE GENTILEZZA
Saverio Tommasi, Sperling & Kupfer 2017
THE LITTLE BOOK OF KINDNESS
Bernadette Russell, Orion Spring 2017
THE WISDOM OF NO ESCAPE
Pema Chödrön, Shambhala 2018
LA GENTILEZZA DELL’ACERO
Alessandro Quattrone, Passigli 2018
REVERIES OF THE SOLITARY WALKER
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Penguin 1979
ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Penguin 1971