Last month, I posted an article on #World Kindness Day. Then I thought about the lack of it.

It seems life has taken us to a place where we no longer value kindness as a trait.  In fact, kindness has been replaced with self-importance and wanting to stay impersonal. The question is why has the world become less kind? Is it that we no longer care about others? Do we believe kindness makes us weak? Is the lack of kindness from some global change?

I believe that kindness has become less important in the world today for many reasons:

  • We’re in a big hurry. Life has become so fast paced, filled with appointments and places to be that we no longer take the time to simply listen to someone.

  • Technology has taken place of the human face-to-face, voice-to-voice interactions of the past. No longer do we pick up the phone or meet face-to-face to talk to others. Now we spend our time texting, posting, getting involved in others drama or simply playing mindless games on our cell phones, tablets, computers and even our watches.

Technology has allowed us to say it’s okay to be late all the time. After all, we can simply text our friend we’re running late, and they’ll know. It’s taken away the common courtesies of saying thank you, hello, nice to meet you, please and “how can I help you”.

We no longer smile at others when we see them. We no longer sympathize or help someone who is having a rough day. Instead we place an emoji on our social media post or in a text and call it done.

There’s an app for everything. Want to have a relationship? Use this app. Want to order your dinner? Use this app. Are these apps taking away the connectedness we once had that created kindness? I believe they do.

  • Self-centeredness and greed is another reason kindness has taken a backseat. Many people are focused on their own lives, on getting ahead and doing whatever is necessary to beat the other guy.

People are more interested in taking care of their own self before they reach out and extend some type of kindness to others. We’ve become a society of “me first” that wasn’t seen as often just a few years ago.

  • Our environment causes us to withdraw from others. Living in crowded cities among strangers can make you quickly hide your natural tendency to be generous and kind to others. With crime, kidnappings, murders and other fears running wild in many cities, people have found it safer to keep to themselves. Road rage keeps people from stopping to help someone with car trouble.
  • Family structure has changed. Our upbringing was different 30 years ago. We believed in helping each other. Neighbors looked out for each other. People weren’t afraid to help the poor and needy. People and children were taught to respect others and to be trustworthy and honest.

Today people are more afraid to show their kindness. Society is deeply divided. There is fear that we will be attacked for what we say or do. We don’t want to appear vulnerable and to get hurt so we attack with words and actions as a way to self-protect ourselves.

Kindness has taken a backseat to greed, technology, poor manners and the environment we live in. Instead of showing kindness we’re afraid to be seen as the nice guy because we might be taken advantage of.

I do not mean to imply all is lost. Like my Little Miss HISTORY character, I prefer to look at the world through rose-colored glasses. There are many philanthropic organizations out there that strive to alleviate suffering and help those in need. But I think we all need to be consciously aware of how easy it is to shut others out because we are too much wrapped up in ourselves.