Is there hope for humanity yet?

Acts of kindness, acts of generosity; is how simple it is to make people feel good. 

         -Simon Sinek

Simon gives a story of when he was walking on the streets of New York city and the backpack of a guy walking in front of him opened and a bunch of papers fell out on the street. He didn’t think much of it as he bent down, gathered up the papers, handed them back to him and pointed out that his bag had opened. Simon walks to the end of the street and a total stranger who happened to be standing next to him said to him that he’d seen what he had done back there and it was really cool.

In our bodies there’s a chemical called oxytocin. Oxytocin is the chemical responsible for all the warm and fuzzies, unicorn and rainbows, for all the warm feelings and connectedness we have with each other: friendship, kindness and love. It binds human beings. It feels good when we do something nice for someone and it also feels good when someone does something nice for us.

As Simon did something nice for a stranger with no expectation, he got a little surge of oxytocin and felt good. The guy with the backpack also experienced a surge of oxytocin as he thanked Simon. As it turns out, witnessing an act of generosity and kindness releases oxytocin and the stranger who witnessed Simon’s act felt good.The best part about oxytocin is that the more we have it in our bodies, the more generous we become. It is mother nature’s way of trying desperately to get us to look after each other. Guaranteed, the man who’d witnessed the act of kindness had to do something nice for somebody that day simply because he’d witnessed an act of kindness.

In light of the world championship olympics, most people have been glued to their screens as they watch the olympians compete. Every few hours, there’s a social media post of the winners and their victory speeches as well as people celebrating the medals their countries have won. In the world we are living in, we only celebrate winners. We have been conditioned to associate with excellence, which is a great thing. Real excellence however, comes not only from the wins but little acts of kindness witnessed in the field. Ivan Fernandez is an embodiment of genuine kindness. In 2012, a race with Abel Mutai,Ivan coming in second realised that Abel had reached the finish line but had not crossed it. As he stood there confused by the signs, Ivan shouted at Abel to cross the line but he couldn’t understand Spanish. Realizing this, Ivan shoved Abel past the finish line and he came out the victor. 

In an interview with the journalists after the race, Ivan was asked why he pushed Abel when he’d have won. Ivan, adorned with love and kindness, replied that the race was Abel’s and that he’d be the winner had he not been confused. He went ahead to ask, “What would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honour of the medal?” Ivan lost the race but won in humanity.

In a world conditioned to win no matter what, most of us take advantage of people’s weakness, laugh and criticize their flaws instead of helping to strengthen them. Values are transmitted from generation to generation. We need to rethink what values we are instilling in our society. Does winning matter if it hurts our neighbour? When we experience a surge of oxytocin, are we genuine enough to pay it forward? What if we commit to do something nice for someone with no expectation of anything in return? Imagine what would happen at work, at home, with our friends and ultimately in the world. But it must be genuine.

Ruth Kimani ♥️♥️♥️