My mom has always taught me to be kind to everyone no matter what, because you can never know the struggles people are going through at home or internally. This seems like a simple concept, but it turns out that many times it’s more difficult than I thought.

I recently came across an individual that, frankly, I haven’t taken a liking to. This person who shall not be named gets on my every nerve and somehow pushes buttons that I didn’t even know I had. As hard as I try, being nice to them is probably the most challenging problem I have had to deal with all year.

The other day, I heard something that sort of took me by surprise though, someone was messing around with this person, and they turned around and yelled, “Stop it, you don’t know what I go through!” After hearing this bold statement, I immediately felt bad for how annoyed I always seem to feel with this individual. I was doing exactly the opposite of what I had learned from my mom because I was avoiding that person and being short with them just because they annoy me, but in reality, they probably just need someone to listen and pay attention to them.

It is nearly impossible to know what is going on in everyone’s lives, and sometimes people put on a brave face, but are sad and angry on the inside about problems they are having. Giving someone a smile, a simple compliment and small gestures all go a long way. Maybe all someone needs is to be told they did a good job because they don’t get that at home, or they are having a bad day and need a pick-me-up.

Being kind solves so many problems, and when we are kind, we may not even know that we helped someone out, or made their day. The world would be so different if everyone made a conscious decision to do something nice for another person at least once a day, and there is no better feeling than knowing that your brightened someone’s day.