Living: the ultimate team sport

The Bravery of Kindness

Posted on December 22, 2025 Updated on December 22, 2025

Why does it take bravery to be kind? Because sometimes we have to reach out to someone when doing so feels uncomfortable; uncomfortable because offering a kindness that might be rejected would be embarrassing. Or perhaps the intended recipient might take offense at the gesture, thereby cancelling out the kindness meant to be shared.

That’s where intuition comes into play.

The other day, the employee who checked our groceries at our neighborhood store wore a pin that indicated she was a US Air Force veteran. That was when my intuition started to buzz. I asked how her Holidays were going, and she said her son, who is on active US military duty, wouldn’t be coming home for Christmas this year. That really got my intuition buzzing…CORRECTION…my intuition was jumping around in my body.

As a member of a local botanical garden that has an extraordinary Holiday light display throughout the gardens in December, I had two free passes in my wallet. I asked “Laurie” if she was familiar with the gardens’ annual light display. Boy, was she. Her face lit up. I pulled out the passes and handed them to her. “Would you like to go this year?” She started to cry, saying she and her husband wanted to go, but it didn’t seem possible this year. She looked me in the eyes and, through her tears, said, “This means so much to me.” Let me tell you, it meant a great deal to me as well.

I have been working on amping up my bravery. As a matter of fact, BRAVERY is my word for 2026. I am very glad I was able to exercise my bravery muscles to go along with the kindness I felt compelled to extend at the grocery store.

My encouragement to everyone is just this: trust your gut.

And talk about trusting your gut, please enjoy this prime example of where bravery and courage come into play. It’s quite a dramatic piece from an extraordinary blog I follow, Boomer Banter.