Poet and master teacher Jack Ridl tells a story about an encounter with a boss that shaped his whole life. Again, from the 2010 Writer’s Retreat at the Fetzer Institute.

The Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is kindness.” A few years ago, I wrote an essay about the desire of a young Amish boy to be “kinder than the dickens.”

Why is it that these declarations of striving to be kind strike us as so very surprising? Or do they seem natural to you? What are your own experiences with kindness? John O’Donohue includes kindness as a special form of beauty. Do you agree?

Shirley Showalter

2 Comments

  1. Richard Gilbert on November 28, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    His story is beautiful. It’s seemingly so simple to be kind, yet it entails worlds. These videos are so inspiring, and I’ve gone to the Fetzer site and watched many more from the retreat.

    • shirleyhs on November 29, 2010 at 1:08 am

      So glad you are finding these videos useful, Richard. And, for the sake of others who read this message, let me say that anyone can continue to access these short videos directly from the embedded sample in each of these posts. They are truly gems, and the writers themselves are amazing.

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