There’s a difference between being “kind” & being “nice”. It’s an important one — especially now. The modern definitions are fairly similar. The roots are not. I think this is worthy of consideration as I’m seeing people endangering others by confusing the two.

We westerners especially have learned to value “niceness.” If you think critically about our history & how we express our lower nature you can imagine why being “nice” became ‘praiseworthy’. People who don’t rock the boat are very valuable when you need them to do what you want.

Kindness is a higher nature attribute. Though it’s often sweet, it sometimes requires discomfort or pain. Niceness never does.

Niceness always says “Yes.”

Kindness sometimes says “I’m sorry, no.” Sometimes “Absolutely not.”

Using two widely cherished sacred texts as examples let’s look at how often the word “nice” is used as opposed to the word “kindness”.

Kindness is a spiritual attribute. Niceness is a social construct.

We’re seeing countless acts of kindness in sacrifices of time, safety, livelihood, & even lives now.

We’re also seeing people trying to visit friends & fam unnecessarily against medical advice.

This is the danger of niceness: It can favor comfort & status quo over life itself.

This is not a time to be nice. This is a time to be kind. To place needs over wants. To value life itself over comfort.

Stay home. If someone wants to visit, *kindly* ask them to wait until we’re ALL safe. Saying no can be an act of love. This is a time for that.