⭐ A Note From the Margins: On Kindness and Consequence

This reflection began as a short note on karma intended for Marginalia. In truth, however, it began with my grandmother.

She lived to the age of 106 and was one of the gentlest people I have ever known. She rarely spoke about philosophy or religion, yet her life quietly reflected kindness, patience, and generosity. As I grow older, I find myself thinking about her more often. I have come to realize that part of me wants to age with the same grace and kindness she carried throughout her life.

The truth is… I still have a ways to go.

As a young boy, I learned quickly that kindness did not always protect a person from ridicule or bullying. Later, in business, I was often told that I was "too nice.” The lesson seemed to be the same: gentleness was a weakness and toughness a virtue.

Like many people, I spent years pursuing success, respect, accomplishment, influence, titles, and perhaps even wisdom. Yet somewhere along the way, I began to wonder whether I was pursuing the right things.

I have never been entirely convinced that society gets this right. Success, status, and recognition have their place, I suppose, but they rarely endure in the way kindness does.

The older I become, the more I suspect that kindness and grace require a strength that is often overlooked. It is easy to respond to anger with anger, criticism with criticism, or injury with injury. It often takes far greater courage to remain patient, compassionate, and kind.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons I admired my grandmother so much. Looking back, I find it curious that the person I most wished to emulate was not the strongest, wealthiest, most accomplished, or most influential person I knew. She was simply one of the kindest.

As I continued writing, what began as a brief note gradually expanded into a larger reflection on kindness, consequences, and one of the most important people in my life. Some ideas seem content to remain in the margins. Others insist on becoming essays.

Some thoughts arrive as notes in the margins. Others quietly ask for a room of their own.

You can find the completed reflection in the Reading Room:

Kindness, Karma, and What My Grandmother Taught Me

Until the next note in the margins...
— uMdali Light 🌿