Kindness and Interconnectedness

A fairly new book by Sharon Salzberg has just come to my attention. It is called The Kindness Handbook: A Practical Companion. Here is just one small paragraph that I think is very focused and to the point:

If we look deeply into any kind of behavior, we will see an urge to feel a part of something greater than our own limited sense of self, a desire to feel at home in this body and mind. This urge toward happiness is often made twisted and distorted by ignorance, not knowing where happiness is actually to be found, and so we do damaging things. But we all share the desire to be happy, a vulnerability to change, to loss, and to fragility. Remembering what we share inspires us toward kindness.

There is a distressing level of truly unnecessary unkindness in our interactions with others. Often the perpetrator thinks it is trivial while the recipient may end up deeply hurt. Giving attention to the practicalities of learning to be kind is all to the good.