Free Republic

In yesterday’s post we pondered that being holy is more than being nice. Today we do well to ponder that that being loving is not the same as being kind.Here too we live in a reductionist culture that has tended to reduce love to kindness. The results are often quite problematic as we shall see.Kindness is a very great thing and has an important place in our relationships. Kindness is evidenced by goodness and charitable behavior, a pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others. According to Aristotle, kindness is an emotion manifesting itself by the desire to help somebody in need,...

A Minnesota Dairy Queen has been swarmed with dozens of phone calls, hundreds of comments and an influx of business after a story about their 19-year-old manager’s courageous defense of a blind man went viral on Reddit. Joey Prusak, who has been working at the popular fast-food restaurant for nearly five years, told TheBlaze Wednesday he was “shocked” and “sickened” by what he saw happen to a blind man at the hands of an elderly lady. Prusak said that last Tuesday, one of his frequent guests, a man who is blind, walked into the local Dairy Queen. When the blind...

Kind stranger pays check for couple having dinner with their special needs son after giving them a note saying: 'God only gives special children to special people' A mother was reduced to tears by a beautiful gesture from a generous stranger towards her family and special needs son on Friday night. Ashley England, of North Carolina, was eating out with her family in China Grove when her eight-year-old son Riley, who is non-verbal and suffers from epilepsy, got frustrated and noisy.The mom worried that he would upset other diners in the restaurant. Instead, a kind-hearted mystery man paid for their...

<p>Helen Mirren has granted a boy’s dying wish to meet the Queen — by dressing as Her Majesty and inviting him round for tea.</p> <p>Oliver Burton, ten, may have just weeks to live after being hit by cancer for a third time.</p>

Human decency and kindness are alive and well in Brookline...

A Georgia mother says it was a pair of 9 and 10-year-old neighborhood boys who ran to her rescue and instructed her how to perform CPR on her two-month-old son after hearing her desperate cries for help. When Susanna Rohm’s son Isaiah abruptly stopped breathing on Monday afternoon she was sitting home alone and in her panic lost her cell phone, and as she immediately felt, any chance of calling 911. 'I was sitting in the living room with the baby and I noticed that he was off that day. He seemed kind of non-responsive to my smile. Something didn't...

Organic products make people feel more secure about their own morality, which weakens the desire to act altruistically, the US findings suggest. The effect also makes people judge immoral behavior more harshly, psychologists report in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. But comfort foods such as chocolate can lead to us being more social and making "kinder moral judgments".

The White House and the nation’s most prominent charities are embroiled in a tense, behind-the-scenes debate over President Obama’s push to scale back the nearly century-old tax deduction on donations that the charities say is crucial for their financial health. In a series of recent meetings and calls, top White House aides have pressed nonprofit groups to line up behind the president’s plan for reducing the federal deficit and averting the year-end “fiscal cliff,” according to people familiar with the talks. In part, the White House is seeking to win the support of nonprofit groups for Obama’s central demand that...

Right now, I'm in a lot of pain. I'm hurting. Everyone I love is hurting. Things just keep going from bad to worse. Today I received a call, a woman soliciting donations for a charity. I blew up. I told her that I'd just spent my entire morning canceling all of my monthly charitable donations. I'd given all I could give and I had nothing left. I'm bled dry. I almost hung up on her. She asked me what was wrong. I sighed and couldn't speak and she told me it was alright. I started to choke up and I...

The highlights of the last day of the convention, for me, were the ordinary people who spoke of the impact of Mitt Romney in their lives. I wish these speeches had been prime-time, and that every wavering voter could see them. This is what kindness looks like. This is the supposedly uncaring, greedy, rich bastard in action. Grant Bennett, a fellow volunteer pastor at the Romney's Massachusetts church, explained that while building his business and earning his millions and raising five boys, Romney volunteered two evenings a week and every weekend -- ten, fifteen, twenty hours a week -- in...

Two Denver hikers are locked in a bitter battle over the fate of a German Shepard named Missy, who was abandoned by one and then rescued by another at 13,000 feet. Scott Washburn found the dog bloodied and near-death atop Colorado's Mt Bierstadt and then organized a search and rescue party to save her. He wants to keep the dog, alleging that Anthony Ortolani lacks the ability or compassion to care for the creature, which went without food and water for eight days. But Mr Ortolani says he didn't abandon the animal, an oncoming storm forced him to choose between...

A man hitchhiking across the country and writing a memoir called "The Kindness of America" was injured in a random drive-by shooting along a rural highway near northeastern Montana's booming Bakken oil patch, authorities said Monday. Ray Dolin, 39, of West Virginia, was shot in the arm as he approached a pickup Saturday evening thinking the driver was offering him a ride, said Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier.

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the phrase “Random Acts of Kindness”? The phenomenon became popular in American culture in the 90’s and has since spread globally, inspiring movements, school projects, even a movie. Buying the coffee for the car behind you at the Starbuck’s drive-through, giving someone your parking space at the mall, or leaving an encouraging note at a restaurant are small gestures that can mean a lot to the recipient and foster a sense of community among our fellow passengers to the grave.But the concept of doing kind works is not new. It’s as old as, well,...

A vet's body lies alone in a cooled room in the Gates of Heaven Funeral Home in Detroit, thanks to the grace of its 66-year-old owner, Joseph Norris, who said, "My heart told me I had to do this."

Last Thursday, Kingsport Animal Control found Hope, a 12-year-old hound, chained up and left for dead behind a home on Dunbar Street. The metal around her neck had sliced open her flesh 2 inches deep and, without muscle or meat, her bones were starting to rub through her skin. Donna Davidson, supervisor at the Kingsport Animal Shelter, said around 300 people have called to check on Hope since she arrived. They’ve donated more than $2,500 to her recovery and upkeep. One man, who requested anonymity, dropped off a check for $1,000. Half, he said, was for her medical treatment. The...

Somewhere in my peripheral vision there was a young girl pushing a load of shopping carts toward the grocery store. There must have been twenty to thirty of those huge metal carriers locked into one another.

I remember one Saturday afternoon, as I was bending out the window handing a man his venti, quad-shot, half sugar-free-vanilla half sugar-free-hazelnut, six splenda, extra hot, non-fat, no foam latte-with a sprinkle of cinnamon- served in a double cup plus hot sleeve, he said, "I want to buy the drink of whoever is behind me. Is that do-able?" I looked at the car behind and and for some reason the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Why?" "I want to show them the love of Jesus in a practical way." he said. "Is it do-able?" "Yeah, sure."...

RICHMOND | Like many dogs introduced to new environments, Gracie was a bit hesitant when she arrived at Sharon Cornett's home in Chesterfield County. From the sights, sounds and smells in the kitchen to the layouts of the various rooms, Gracie needed some time to find a comfort zone. "She was a little bit shy," Miss Cornett said. "But she quickly discovered that sitting on the sofa was her most favorite activity." These days, Gracie clearly is comfortable with her home. She seems to relish her role as the official laid-back greeter when strangers visit, and if they spend some...

I recently recieved this email from a friend, and thought I would just pass it on. 'Some people!' snorted a man standing behind me in the long line at the grocery store. 'You would think the manager would pay attention and open another line, 'said a woman. I looked to the front of the line to see what the hold up was and saw a well dressed, young woman, trying to get the machine to accept her credit card. No matter how many times she swiped it, the machine kept rejecting it. 'It's one of them welfare card things. Damn...

But the fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Galatians 5:22-23 The world talks about practicing "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty." I like that attitude. We can do this all day, every day. It wouldn’t be difficult. Of course, some are better at being kind than others. So what does "kind" look like: sending a handwritten note to a friend across the country letting that guy butt in front of you even after you’ve waited 20 minutes saying please and thank you often admitting when you’ve been in error helping a neighbor move in complimenting someone on...