Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

From “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye

I few months ago, I listened to an “On Being” podcast conversation between Naomi Shihab Nye and Krista Teppet, “Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside . . .“. She read this poem during the conversation. I have thought about this poem ever since. As someone who spends time connecting kindness, gratitude, and wide-awakeness (ultimately/hopefully, living more kindly, gratefully, and wide-awake), her words made me think.

Shihab Nye connects kindness with loss and sorrow. She suggests that kindness emerges from the deep space left by sorrow. That feels true in the same way our common stories bind us together. There is a universality to sorrow, specifically as a predicate to kindness, that makes kindness known and real and accessible.

In a world of so much sorrow, the idea that sorrow is a path to kindness is comforting and hopeful. Within that, vulnerability is a path to kindness. Honesty is a path to kindness. Faith is a path to kindness.

Kindness can only make sense after sorrow. Before sorrow, kindness is a separate experience of us and them. After sorrow, kindness is tears flowing together.