On my neighborhood walk after school today I came across a message that made me pause. I took out my phone for a photograph. And it’s still on my mind.

First of all, this was not there yesterday. I walked this same path yesterday, could I have missed it? (I walk this same path frequently and have never come across it before!) I love that it is written neatly–maybe in a paint pen? REBELLION is in all caps and triple underlined. The yellow is perfect, bright enough but not obnoxious. Near the community mailboxes, but not too close.

What does it mean for kindness to be an act of rebellion? I’m struck by the contrast with the way our current government acts. The contrast between kindness and war, kindness and threats, kindness and taking children from their families, kindness and lying. I’d love to believe that kindness could cure so many of our societal ills. At least, it might be a starting point. My colleague reminded me today (before I saw this message on the sidewalk) that she tells her kindergarten students, “Be kind or be quiet.” It is kind to stand up for what is right. It’s not kind to call names and diminish your classmates. (There is a bigger message there when it comes to grown ups.)

So, what about a poem for today? Verselove invited a haiku (17 syllables) about taxes. I think instead I will try my 17 syllables about a kindness rebellion.

When words have power

use them with pure intentions

paint the world with kindness