“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.”

Khalil Gibran

Drawing by Khalil Gibran

Much is written on the concept of kindness, the correctness of kindness and the philosophy of kindness, but I simply think the most important question one can ask about a fellow human being is: “Is he or she kind?”

“On Kindness” by  Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor

Are humans the only species who, because of their imaginative powers, can enter into the feelings of other people far removed from them, whom they cannot see or touch, but whose plight as fellow-humans they can share? That is the question I wanted to answer after reading the book review by Peter Stevenson in the New York Times. The book “On Kindness” addresses this question in all its complexity.

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness”.

Seneca 4 BC – AD 65