I mentioned before that I was a Girl Scout. I want to show to you the Girl Scout Law. It’s something I grew up with and repeated many times through my life.
I remember when they updated the “Girl Scout Law” in 1996 and took out “be cheerful” because they didn’t want to the girls to feel like they had to be smiling and happy all the time. I am so grateful for that change and that lesson.
I also remember trying to memorize the thing. I would go say the Law and Start: ” On my honor, I will try, to serve [God*] and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.” dang it! I did the Girl Scout Promise not the Law! Again! And then for the life of me, I could not start the Girl Scout Law. Every time, I’d get stuck in a Girl Scout Promise loop.
Consider Kindness
The Girl Scout Law never says the word “kind” or “kindness” but it uses synonyms, especially “considerate and caring”. I see kindness as not just “being nice”. Niceness is in the eye of the beholder. Kindness considers another person’s perspective, beliefs, and sees them as valuable and worthwhile. Kindness does not need to agree with those perspectives, it just needs to see that perspective as valid and worth considering. Maybe there is something I can learn about the whole picture by looking through your eyes.
Kindness doesn’t just apply to other people. It applies to me. I am worth while. My lived experience is worth considering. My eyes see part of the picture that other people don’t. My values and opinions and needs are valid. I am just as worthy of love and belonging as everyone else. I am worth being considered and I am worth being cared about.
As I come to believe that I have value, I naturally put boundaries and practices into place that protect me. As I believe other people have value, I take time to consider how my boundaries may impact other people. That whole “shining your light allows others to do the same” really is true. As I treat myself as worthy simply because I am a human, I begin to treat all other humans as worthy too.