Offering Kindness

An acquaintance just told me he was going to give a 12YO boy 2 cans of his favorite soda as a birthday gift. But the boy had been receiving really bad grades in school and had been given in-school suspension. (Whether that was for the bad grades or a different infraction, the man didn't say.)

However, because of the problems the boy was experiencing, the man was only going to give him one can, and it was an obscure off-brand instead of his favorite.

I said maybe what the boy needed most was that 2nd can as an AttaBoy, a  vote of confidence that showed the giver believed the receiver could do it - a kindly boost to the child's self-confidence. But the man said, Oh, no! This one can is my AttaBoy. He doesn't even deservce that.

Even my saying it seemed like there had been punishment enough failed to sway him.

And I wondered - how many people try to make themselves seem superior by punishing and putting down another person. No one who demeans another can be superior or even appear to be.

It seems to me that kindness freely given is usually returned many fold in one way or another.What do you think?

Linda