“Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.” — Mencius

Mencius is another Chinese philosopher from around 300 B.C. He contributed to the traditions of Confucianism, and is the equivalent of a St.

I’ve said it more times than I can count: kindness matters, and unfortunately we live in a world where it’s uncommon to be kind.

Using this knowledge, we can manipulate others. We can get whatever we want, whenever we want it, as long as we use kindness. Although this seems grim, it’s true. People use kindness for unkind things. Because of this, it’s important to prioritize being genuinely kind and truly caring. It’s important for us to go out of our way to help others and be kind to them, because we never know just how much they need it. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy tells us this when Batman is speaking to Commissioner Gordon if my memory serves me right. Let me know in the comments if I’m wrong. 

This is good to know. Kindness matters. Being kind to others is important and heavily impacts others. You know what impacts them even more though? A reputation for kindness. Think about an evil villain telling someone that they can have whatever they want and they can do as they please. Chances are, you would assume that there’s a hidden meaning, and that the person isn’t really free to do as they please. Now imagine someone like Mr. Rogers telling you that you can have anything you want and do as you please. I don’t know about you, but one of those things seems a lot more genuine. This is because Mr. Rogers has a reputation for kindness — the guy was literally known for checking on people who interviewed him for years afterwards.

We can apply this knowledge to our lives today. If we so choose, we can positively contribute to the world by building up our reputations for kindness, and as a result we’ll feel happier as well.

Be kind. You never know who needs it, and you never know when it’ll come back to you.

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