BE BOTH | HUMAN + KIND

A few weeks ago, My husband @Tony Farnsworth and I visited our home on Pine Island in Bokeelia, Florida.?We were there to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Ian, visit with neighbors and friends who had also been impacted and begin the long road ahead of cleaning up.?

The four day trip left me with mixed emotions.?Numb, sad and quite frankly, even a little angry.?And yet, I also felt joy as I watched neighbors helping neighbors, strangers helping strangers, restaurants getting creative and opening up (even with a limited menu and resources) and giving all of their proceeds to their staff to make up from the 3 weeks they couldn’t work. Maybe most impressive, I watched in awe as literally hundreds of contractors and utilities workers flooded the island working round the clock to construct a new road allowing access on and off the island and work tirelessly to restore power.?

Then, as we drove through downtown Matlacha on our final day I was distracted by a small home that caught my eyes.?Where small, colorful shops once magically lined both sides of the road…this home (if only for a moment) distracted me from all the surrounding devastation.?For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Pine Island, most of the local shops and homes are painted with obnoxiously bright, spirited colors - I mean even Bob Ross probably couldn’t have selected these types of color combinations- you have no choice but to smile while driving through.?

OK, back to it…

The home was painted bright turquoise with purple and blue trim and from my car window, I saw these words spray painted loud and proud facing traffic:

BE BOTH?

Human + Kind?

My first reaction??

Darn right.?

Whomever lived here or happened to pass by and decided this sort of “outside art” was needed, absolutely nailed it.?

As my eyes welled up with tears, the words got me thinking…why can’t we can be both?

In moments of tragedy, it's only human to be sad, devastated and even angry but we can also be kind.?We can have?the worst day, week or month ever and still show empathy to others.??

In fact, some of my most treasured memories with friends, family, coworkers and even customers are when we’ve showed our true authentic, whole human self.?

Fact is, life happens but my time on Pine Island was a reminder to be human first, to never underestimate the power of a simple act of kindness and also, and as hard as things may seem in the moment...we can get through it.? I was also reminded me that people need people. And we can get through the tough moments even better with the strength and partnership of others.?I’m convinced, there’s nothing more powerful than humans helping humans.?

Every day, we have the opportunity to look for those around us who may be having their worst day and need a dose of kindness or empathy.?And know that someone will likely be there for you when you need that dose of kindness or humanity in return. It’s simply magical what we can do when we decide to BE BOTH.?

Whether at work, at home, or in the midst of unexpected tragedy, we can BE BOTH.?I think on this moment especially, the world needs us to be both human and kind.

And perhaps, what I observed over my brief stay is that we, as humans are actually our very best when we are bring our whole, authentic selves to each day (good, bad or ugly…remember, Corinthians 4: 17-18) and also find a way, even in our darkest moments to show kindness to one another.?