Fall is in the air today. Seventy-six degrees feels lovely when you are accustomed to temperatures near 100. The Naked Pastor says that we should choose kindness…and I agree. Another admonition that I read today is that teachers should teach their students with love because many of them do not receive that emotion when they return home. How is it that we all respond to love, kindness, and cool temperatures…when it is our turn to pass those good feelings along to others we are otherwise occupied? Indeed we can not pass on cool physical temperatures but we can pass on a way of treating others that promulgates cooled-down temperatures of emotions and interaction with our fellow humans.

One of the first lessons that I learned when I began in supervision and later management/administration at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale was that the person that you see on the outside does not reveal the challenges that they are undergoing on the inside. The famous actor and comedian Robin Willams seemed to be joyful and unbothered in his performances. We found out differently when he sadly took his life.

When I receive kindness from another I am energized and encouraged and enlightened! We live in a world of lonely people. I am not just speaking of those who have little financially but also of many who have most of what money can offer. Politicians and preachers alike have divided us. Social media has caused us to either be envious of our friends and neighbors or to distrust them due to differences that should not matter in forging friendships.

Perplexing it is to think that there are so many divisions by class in our society when our final destination is equal. Certain religious sects teach their followers that if they follow all of the intricate precepts of their doctrine they will be rulers in the next life. Money is suggested as a foolproof way to buy your way into a preferred placement in Heaven. Faith is coopted into an investment program that is better than the bank or stock market. If you give enough of your hard-earned money you will receive the place nearer God’s Throne and the better assignments of mansions that are in the gated community named Golden Streets.

Jesus loved the seemingly unloveable. His people were the outcasts. He preached to and was a friend to the unheard and the unseen. The forgotten of society were Jesus’ friends and confidants. The Losers as perceived by the world…were the Winners with Christ.

When this life is over…the pretty golf clothing of the elite will be uncommon and of little use. The clannish behavior of the rich as they surround the campfire of their wealth…or as well as the nationalist and separatist and America for Americans…when for the life of me I do not understand who they deem worthy of their Club?

Kindness is a rare consideration that I promise we will all need before we leave this journey.