Acts of kindness are never in-vain, even if we don’t see their impact

We often hear that it is love that makes the world go round. I have to agree with that. Those smitten with love, and many of our songs are about this, will know the experience of ‘being in love’. However, love is more than just a feeling or ‘being smitten’. Love is a choice and it is acts of kindness that operationalise our love.

That choice is refined in times of hardship. Many of us, if not all of us, go through some tough times. Whatever the reason for these difficulties, that is when we have to dig deep and continue to make the choice of offering kindness to those around us. As mentioned at the conference, it was Victor Frankl who wrote the book called ‘Man’s search for meaning’. He was in a Nazi concentration camp and noticed that those who survived were usually those who had a goal in life, or a purpose, and in particular a meaning for living. They made the choice, despite the atrocious conditions, to stand firm and stay strong to their values.

I’d like to share a brighter story about my work as a Franciscan friar some years ago now. I was involved with a youth outreach centre based in Paddington, Sydney. One of my roles to just offer kindness and friendship to the troubled youth in that area, and in surrounding areas such as Kings Cross. I was asked one day to talk to an older teenager who had been badly beaten while working as a sex-worker at the Cross. He was quite an intelligent young man and it was felt that it would be good if he could somehow engage with the educational system again, such as attending a TAFE course. So we spent a couple hours a week just chatting about things, doing walks from Bronte beach to Bondi, and even occasionally going for a surf.

After some months, I was posted to Melbourne where I completed my theological studies and assisted the Pentridge prison chaplain. I wasn’t sure what eventuated with the young man that I ‘walked with’ in Sydney. However, some years later I was working for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and met a woman who was a social worker as part of a project on preventing youth suicide. She too worked in Sydney at the time I was there. Being a small world, she also knew the teenager that I had ‘walked with’.

What took me by total surprise was that she told me that he was now married and doing really fine. Wow, I was ‘bowled over’ knowing that this young man had turned things around.

Now, it should be said that I was only one small part of this young man’s journey. He was also attending various services such as counselling and other social services. However, I don’t think we can ever underestimate the importance of showing kindness to others.

And the way we show kindness is unique to all of us. We have been gifted in different ways. What we have to discover is how we best do that. But I can assure you that no act of kindness is ever wasted. And sometimes, if we are lucky, we hear about the impact of what we have tried to do. Just like the young man in this story.