The Milk of Human Kindness

A few years ago, I posted nine of The 10 Things in the World That Amaze Me Most... and to be fancy, I used Roman numerals. Well guess what? I forgot Roman numeral X. Here's that list again, refreshed... and I'm proud of it because it makes a great case for the quality of life : 

I: The Pacific Ocean, II: Big Numbers, III: The Young, IV: Laughter, V: Nature, VI: The Power of One, VII: The Natural Laws of Physics, VIII: Us Humans, IX: The Heavens...

And finally, Roman numeral X: The Milk of Human Kindness...

 ...arguably the greatest human virtue, as in "...  love your neighbor as yourself." Kinda 'Golden Rule-ish' love.

In a world that seems increasingly filled with war, hate, revenge, anger, rancor and discontent... with acrimony, distrust and despair, we must remind ourselves that there is a light beyond our evening news.

Name your favorite movie... did you say Sleepless in Seattle, Princess Bride or When Harry Met Sally? Love as a theme is popular because that's where we choose to live.

Words of love can never convey the spirit of love that comes from the heart... but we keep trying. These are just a few of those:

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."
-- The Dalai Lama

"The flower of kindness will grow. Maybe not now, but it will some day.
And in kind that kindness will flow, for kindness grows in this way."
-- Robert Alan

"Seek not good from without: seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it."
-- Epictetus (2nd century)

"Happy were men if they but understood
There is no safety but in doing good"
-- John Fountain.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."
-- Mohandas Gandhi.

"Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity."
--Buddha

"Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
--Martin Luther King, Jr

"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world."
--William Shakespeare

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
--Mark Twain

"Don’t spend your precious time asking 'Why isn’t the world a better place?' It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I make it better?' To that there is an answer."
--Leo F. Buscaglia

"Take away love and our earth is a tomb."
--Robert Browning

"Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?"  --Sir James M. Barrie

"Either men will learn to live like brothers, or they will will die like beasts."
--Max Lerner

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
--Aesop

"Where there is great love, there are always miracles."
--Willa Cather

"Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy.Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year; you will never be forgotten.
No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven."
--Thomas Chalmers

""You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."
--Henry Drummond

"Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people." --Mother Teresa

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
--Martin Luther King Jr.

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
--James M. Barrie

OK... do you get it? Love is BIG! The Golden Rule is BIG!

So, for the grand finale: (I am not trying to send a religious message, though if you interpret is as such, that's fine by me... but while this verse is seen as secular, it is so commonly accepted on its face for its sentiment.

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.