What If We Were Less Selfish?

A quiet thought I carried home from Japan.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

The older we become, the more we learn to calculate.

Is this worth doing? Is this person worth helping? What will I get in return?

We become better at protecting ourselves. And more afraid of being the one who loses.

There is nothing wrong with that.

But sometimes, I wonder:

If everyone is only trying not to lose, do we all end up living a harder life?

Photo by Shigeki Wakabayashi on Unsplash

During a trip to Japan, I began noticing small things.

Someone taking an extra moment to help a stranger with directions. People quietly taking care of the space around them.

Acts of consideration that brought no reward and often went unnoticed. None of these things were extraordinary.

In fact, they were so small that most people would probably forget them.

But I started to think that perhaps the true warmth of a place is built from exactly these moments.

The ones no one remembers.

Photo by Adam Nemeroff on Unsplash

I do not know whether this can change the world.

Probably not all at once.

But one person can make another person’s day slightly easier.

And perhaps that person, one day, will do the same for someone else.

Maybe kindness does not need to be grand. Maybe it only needs to continue.

Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash

The world may not need more extraordinary people. It may simply need more people willing to make life a little easier for one another.

A little less selfishness. A little less calculation.

Not because we need to become better than everyone else. But because life is already hard enough.

We do not have to make it harder for one another.

Perhaps the world does not need more extraordinary people. Perhaps it simply needs more people willing to make life a little easier for one another.

Until the next journey, Fred