Caveats
I feel like this subject is a serious one, serious enough to warrant deep study. I have not been able to give that level of study to it. So what I write here can be treated as a draft or a hypothesis for something I am sure will take much more time to flesh out. I know caveats are typically put at the end of a post, but I wanted to save you time by being upfront about it.
Why write at all about this
One thing I have learned in the short time I have been here in Hive is how global its residents are. It would be interesting to see what inputs come from our friends from different cultures and countries
Is there one kindness
As a human condition, I do think there is one Kindness And a lot of this kindness is universal, and maybe even part of our evolution. For eg. love for a child, helping an elder, being patient with kids, being respectful of the dead, all such behavior can be considered universal.
However, I think that there is another part of kindness that is not so universal. And the kind of kindness that I think does not always translate has to do with a combination of culture, socio-economic conditions, and even political stance.
Political Impact
Let me start with politics, because it is the most irritating at times, sometimes because the actual reason is shallow while other times the reason is blind faith in the mob think.
Thanks to politics people who might have been kind if left on their own seem to be much more reserved in their kindness as part of a political groupthink. For eg. people who believe in the sanctity of all men will still not support charity, or people in opposition will try to put down the govt in power by shooting down any scheme that might help people for fear that it would take away votes.
The problem is sometimes these ad-hoc responses become habits when the political lines are drawn aggressively and the hatred continues to fester for too long. And common people get pulled into this whirlpool of hate and kindness erodes in this cesspool.
Interestingly while I am trying to show diversity this case of political impact seems to be universal as govts across get more corrupt and more autocratic. And it is frustrating to see these groups try to wipe away entire categories of kindness possible in this world.
Socio-Economic Impact
Here I think about how Kindness perception is impacted by the socio-economic situation. For eg. if one is in a country where survival is not in question and people are living at a higher level of quality, it might be easier to be trusting, be polite, and be kind. Add to this the impact of population.
So if you are in a country, or even in a region, or sometimes in a block of the city, if it is poor, or developing, and dense; there is a good chance that kindness is more difficult to practice. To be honest there is no difference in Kindness itself. However, if you are in this dense metro where everyone is hustling to make a better life how can you know if the plea for help is true or just a ploy to get some money? Or if you reach ou to help one person you suddenly have 40 people waiting for help and looking at you accusing you you cannot.
Essentially in places where survival is of utmost importance, Kindness might be sacrificed. Of course, this is also the best scope for applying the large impact of Kindness. And thousands are kind in these circumstances. I look up to them with Awe and/or respect.
Cultural Diversity
And we now come to the big one, cultural diversity.
A person holding open a door for a lady could be a kind act in one group. Another group of people might consider it demeaning.
Certain cultures will consider you asking about their personal lives as a kind action of wanting to know you better. Certain other cultures might think of this question as very impolite and intrusive.
In my culture for eg. we are so used to seeing joint families with generations living together that it is a default kindness to take care of not just your parents but other elders, as well as children too. Other cultures might have developed a more nuclear and independent family group and it may not be considered kind of old parents to stay with their children and impose on them.
In a country like mine which is still developing, has interesting governments, and a media that is always trying to win attention through negative algos, value of a human life is not very high. The group is more important than the individual. In such a scenario most people will find ideas like good self-care and caring for one's own mental health and kindness to self, to be arty-farty words for action that is just some hocus-pocus.
Even within my own country there are regions, especially rural places, where the entire neighbourhood is in each other's business, but at the same time they really care for and take care of each other in times of need. And then there are urban places where neighbours don't even know each other.
And then there are toxic sub cultures everywhere that consider kindness as non macho, and a weakness.
Kindness = unity in diversity
My conclusion from all this thought was that at the end of the day only you can act for yourself. So I would say it is fine. Let the difference of perception of kindness remain, but wherever possible let us get to the true center of kindness. Where one human helps another, and the other can be oneself. But we should be aware of the differences too. Just so we do not inadvertently cause pain when we intend to help.
Epilogue
Pardon me for a bit of a ramble. But all these thoughts pop up and I blame @gregscloud for putting me on this path with his much better analysis of kindness. It is interesting that thinking of Kindness is taking me through thought experiments one after the other.
Source:
- Image created by me using DaalE on Open.Ai site. All images are sections cut from this main image.