"One kind word can warm three winter months." (Japanese proverb)
Please, please, please, make the effort, just for one day, to be nothing but kind. It may be difficult, especially when life is happening to you, people are being unreasonable, and the world may be making you furious. It happens a lot, I get that. But just think of the last time someone was unkind to you, deliberately or through thoughtlessness; remember how that made you feel? Why would you want to do that to another person? Even if they have done something awful to you, inflicting pain won't make you feel any better - has it ever, in your personal experience?
Words have power. Words can hurt. And you don't know what the person in front of you has gone through, in their life or even just in that day, week or month. You don't know if you might turn out to be the straw that broke the camel's back. So bite back the mean.
Instead, smile. Say something nice, just because. Tell someone how much you appreciate them, and what they do, even if it's "just" the barista who serves your coffee just so and keeps smiling in the face of hordes of (often rude) caffeine-deprived commuters in a hurry. Or the girl who holds the door for you. The bus driver who sees you running dementedly and waits so you can catch his bus. The guy who got the book/tin/mug off the high shelf for you. Especially the person who let you have the last cookie or piece of chocolate! And the friend who you know you can always call, who will be there if you need to talk, and who understands if you can't speak, but will sit with you and hold you.
Think of all the people who lift you up, and put a little of that back out there. It will probably cost you nothing, and you will make someone's day - or maybe even save a life.
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