We tackled the issue of generosity and its great role of alleviating the pain of humanity. Today I will discuss the issue of “the kind word” and its influence on people and how it can change others’ destiny. They say, “Caring words cost nothing and create infinite possibilities”. Kind words make people happy and gladden their hearts. kind words are melodies to our ears so much that we can’t explain our feelings when we listen to them during a tiring day.
In a chilly night during winter, rain was dropping heavily that people were running under their umbrellas and tucking their coats, there was a man in pale and torn clothes standing alone with no cover protecting him from the rain. He was standing absentminded and tears were sneaking out of his eyes as if to warm his face lest if freeze. Meanwhile, someone passed by looking at him with contempt. He gave him some money and told him to wear better clothes. When the poor man refused to take the money, the man was frustrated and thought that the poor man was crazy.
The man stood in the rain till it stopped and then he went to a great hotel where the receptionist rebuked him and prevented him from entering the lobby. The poor man gave him a frustrated look and showed him the key of the most luxurious suites at the hotel. He also told him to bring his “Rolls Royce” as he is going out in half an hour. The receptionist was about to lose his mind as the man who was wearing pale clothes like that of the refuse collector turned out to be a rich man. The man went to his suite and came out wearing extraordinary clothes telling the receptionist who treated him with respect that they were ranking people according to their money and he was trying to experience the misery poor people feel thus he wore pale clothes and stood in rain. He advised him that if he could not help the poor, at least he should not despise them, a kind word would be enough.
If you think about how much you need kind words amid your difficult times, you would be able to present them to those in need wiping their tears. As the Bible says, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
“Kind words are the music of the world. They have a power which seems to be beyond natural causes, as if they were some angel’s song, which had lost its way and come on Earth, and sang on undyingly, smiting the hearts of men with sweetest wounds, and putting for the while an angel’s nature into us.”
Dear reader, do not hesitate to offer kind and gentle words to everyone you meet as you would be presenting them hope and brightness as if the sun rises again over their gloomy life and the wind breezes on their hot days.
To be continued…
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
