Kindness

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about"

I've battled with depression my entire life. The majority of the time I can cope but this winter has been challenging, specifically the past week. I've felt sad and defeated. Getting up in the morning has been incredibly difficult.

This week has been such an eye opener for me. I'm trying to be positive about my experiences and chalk it up to lessons.

I've been verbally attacked by 2 random men in less than a week. The first one, a man refused to let me in at the end of a merge lane. He slammed on his breaks and came flying out of his car screaming obsenities and telling me I don't know how to drive because I shouldn't be "pushing myself in at the end of a merge".

Second incident was today. I was walking into the grocery store with my 3 year old when a gent (whom I thought was being kind) said "did you know you're brake light is out"? I replied with a thank you and said I bought the bulb, I just need daylight for my husband to switch it out. He then goes off on an angry tangent telling me how I'm a terrible mother for driving without brake lights and I'm going to cause an accident. He wouldn't stop. He continued berrating me for another 5 mins. There were people everywhere. It was embarrassing.

What struck me though, is that if he was so concerned with the safety of my child and others and heard me say I have the bulb, why not be kind and offer to help replace it, instead of being miserable and offering no help, just ignorance. What has happened to community and loving thy neighbour? What has happened to kindness and compassion?

That quote is, oh so true. So remember, you don't know what battle that person next to you is trying to overcome. Be kind.