[Informative Essay:]
KINDNESS
[by : the one who won the world of nowhere]
It hurts to learn the terrible truth in our country’s situation today. People holding grudges over others which leads to a horrible action----- taking away lives. News from tabloids and televisions may have these as part of the usual situations in the country, but at present it’s much worse. Parents got killed by their own child; wives killing their husbands and vice versa; lovers committing suicide. Anger, pride, absence of trust, hate and selfishness are some of the reasons people do such wickedness. These crimes could have been prevented if people only have one thing in their hearts and minds ------ kindness.
“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle”1, goes the saying from the great mind of Plato. Being kind to others is what our parents and teachers would never get tired of telling us. The sad part is that it’s easily said than done. The world showers us with so much pressure with the problems we face, and doing bad deeds is what we thought would do good for us because we want the easy way out. If there’s only one thing that would answer the endeavors of man in his whole lifetime, that would be “KINDNESS”. Let me give some facts and enumerate the benefits of kindness. According to one article from the Reader’s Digest Asia last March 2009, being kind benefits the giver more than the receiver. The first benefit is “kindness makes us happier”, this was proven true after Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky from the University of California conducted a study where the participants were asked to perform random acts of kindness over ten weeks. “A small anonymous act might make you feel like a very good person”2, Professor Lyubomirsky said. Being happy creates an unlimited optimism in our minds that greatly contributes to our wellness.
Good health is another benefit when one becomes kind. Allan Luks and Peggy Payne stated in their publication "The Healing Power of Doing Good", that when one is kind he has “a greater sense of calmness and relaxation, which may also ease pain (from headaches to back pain) and may even reduce high blood pressure.”3 They also said that kindness may increase one’s “energy level and can even reduce excessive stomach acid.”4 Therefore, it is clear that kindness is also a type of medicine for our physical body.
Dr. David R. Hamilton, in his article about the benefits of kindness “The Effects of Kindness”, affirmed that kindness is indeed a life saver. He said that kindness gives us healthier hearts and it also slows aging. Here is his reason for the first health benefit: “Acts of kindness are often accompanied by emotional warmth which produces the hormone oxytocin in the brain and throughout the body.... Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in blood vessels, which dilates the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure, and therefore oxytocin is known as a "cardio-protective" hormone because it protects the heart (by lowering blood pressure). The key is that acts kindness can produce oxytocin, and therefore kindness can be said to be cardio-protective.”5 Kindness also slows aging, this is again because of the oxytocin which reduces levels of free radicals and inflammation in the cardiovascular system and thus slows aging at its source.
The third benefit of kindness is that it helps to build better relationships. Dr. Hamilton attested this fact: “… kindness reduces the emotional distance between two people, so we feel more "bonded."6 This means that we are not only physically healthy but we also become good social beings. When we are united as a group sharing benevolence and building better relationships, we become prolific, thus problems are easier to handle and would finally be solved.
The last but not the least benefit of kindness is that it is contagious. “A recent scientific study reported than an anonymous 28-year-old person walked into a clinic and donated a kidney. It set off a "pay it forward" type ripple effect where the spouses or other family members of recipients of a kidney donated one of theirs to someone else in need. The "domino effect," as it was called in the New England Journal of Medicine report, spanned the length and breadth of the United States of America, where 10 people received a new kidney as a consequence of that anonymous donor.”7 As one person shows kindness towards the people he encounters, the receivers’ subconscious becomes infected by the good feeling, so he pays kindness forward unto others.
Without a doubt, these benefits of kindness save the giver the most, but it should not be the main reason for one to do kindness to others. As Dr. Hamilton said: “we should never do an act of kindness to gain from it, we should always be kind because it's the right thing to do”8 , let us remember that sharing kindness to others is a responsibility that does not need to be commanded. We are all kind and we just sometimes forget it; let us remember it at all times.
We are facing a dreadful reality. Even other nations are not exempted from encountering hardships. A crime-filled world is not easy to defeat, but with kindness greatly shared to one another it is not harder to imagine a peaceful and wonderful world ahead of us.
______________________________________________________________________________
1 Reader’s Digest Asia, March 2009.
2 Reader’s Digest Asia, March 2009.
3 http://www.cignabehavioral.com/web/basicsite/bulletinBoard/effectsOfHumanKindness.jsp, “The Effects of Human Kindness” October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
4 http://www.cignabehavioral.com/web/basicsite/bulletinBoard/effectsOfHumanKindness.jsp, “The Effects of Human Kindness” October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-r-hamilton-phd/kindness-benefits_b_869537.html October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
6 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-r-hamilton-phd/kindness-benefits_b_869537.html October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
7 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-r-hamilton-phd/kindness-benefits_b_869537.html October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
8 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-r-hamilton-phd/kindness-benefits_b_869537.html October 29, 2011, 2:52:12 PM
Your style is so exclusive compared to other individuals. Thank you for posting when you have the chance, guess I would just make this bookmarked. How to manage critical analysis essays properly?
ReplyDelete