I've been thinking.

I've been thinking about kindness.

I've also been thinking about unkindness.

I've been thinking about the fact that when someone is unkind to me, part of me shuts down.

I've been thinking about the fact that when I see someone be unkind to someone else, my heart aches.

I've been thinking about the man in Walmart yesterday that pushed a screaming baby through the store and never even looked at it or attempted to soothe it.

I've been thinking about the frowny-faced woman working the check-out stand that melted into a puddle and carried on a full conversation with the pig-tailed three year old in the line ahead of me.

I've been hoping that someday that little crying baby will get some attention.  The loving kind.

I've been thinking about how special that little three year old must have felt because of the attention she received from the Walmart worker.

I've been thinking about walking across campus and how great it feels when people look you in the eye and smile.

I've been thinking about how many times we, instead, look down or at our cell phones completely ignoring the people that were potentially apart of our lives for a whole ten seconds.

I've been thinking about how quick our society is to criticize each other.

I've been thinking about how President Obama slow jammed with Jimmy Fallon and how happy I am that the man that carries the burden of the nation on his shoulders got to have a little bit of "down time" to do something fun.

I've been thinking about how much he is getting criticized for stepping away from his work to slow jam.

I've been thinking about how unkind we can be to ourselves because of those extra pounds or the pile of laundry or the fact that we've already eaten out three times this week.

I've been thinking about the girls who just moved in next door (the Jessica's) and how grateful I was that they didn't ignore me when I saw them.  Apartment living is funny like that.

I've been thinking about being let down and people not doing what they say they'll do.

I've been thinking about all the times that I haven't done what I said I was going to do.

That makes me sad and I wish I could go back and do it all again.

I've been thinking about why we feel it's ok to write sarcastic and rude things to each other on facebook, blogs, email, twitter, and instagram.

I've been thinking about how quick we all may be to voice unkind opinions through social media and yet we wouldn't dare say them to faces.

I've been thinking about how ONE comment can crush someone's dream.

I've been thinking about how ONE dirty look can crush someone's self-confidence.

I've been thinking about how ONE person can alter the world of another.

I've been thinking that we should be nice to each other.