Redtree Times

The Allure— At the West End Gallery

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies-“God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”

― Kurt Vonnegut

I used the words above from the book God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater from the late Kurt Vonnegut, as the opening for a post on kindness a couple of years back. It was a short little essay that for some reason gets a number of views seemingly every day.

It surprises me but it also makes me glad that a post like this attracts people.

After all, kindness is a good thing and I would like to think that anything that furthers kindness among others is good, as well.

The words above are spoken to the infant twins of a neighbor as part of a baptismal speech from Eliot Rosewater, the book’s protagonist. It seems like a ridiculous bit of advice to speak over infants at a religious ceremony, but the sentiment is striking in its simplicity and practical application.

Contrary to Mr. Rosewater’s advice, it may not be an actual rule. But if you got to be something, why not be kind? Don’t cost a thing, you seldom have to apologize for it, and you might even make someone else’s day. Or week. Or month.

Hell, why not?

Here’s a simple and kind song, You Got Gold, from the late John Prine.

Maybe that gold inside you is your own kindness.