I struggle with the aforementioned title. I would rather be
smart than be kind. I would rather win than love (sometimes). It’s easier to
rattle off answers and numbers and facts than to lend a helping hand or to have
compassion on the forgotten soul. I’m not sure why this is, but the best way I can
think of it is some people are more predisposed to be kind, while others have
to work towards it.
Intelligence is something that we are born and bred to marvel
at and to compete with each other over. We all want to be the smartest, the
brightest, the best in the class. Those people are rewarded the most and with
the better grades and eventually the better salaries and promotions. Intelligence
is valued in our society as it very well should be. Without a moderate degree
of smarts, society ceases to move forward.
But what about kindness? Do we place the same values on it? The
short and difficult answer is that no, we do not. Kindness and charity and
compassion and love are not valued as highly as intelligence and competition
are. Society simply does not care if you’re kind or not, kindness doesn’t add
more dollars nor does it add to your pedigree. Essentially, kindness is done
without thought of compensation or reward, while the pursuit of intelligence rewards
more obtrusively and expensively. We can sometimes view kind people as weak, as
unwilling to stand up for themselves while their neighbor steamrollers over
them. Our society does not tolerate weakness; it’s hereditary. Since the
beginning of time, the weak were left behind while only the strong survived.
This lack of balance in the scales of brain and heart is
most unfortunate. Our biological instincts lead us astray in this one area. Because,
while society cannot move forward without intelligence, it can also be said
that it will cease to exist altogether without the repeated applications of
kindness.
Interestingly enough, there are very few scriptures in the
Bible that speak positively on the subject of human intellect. It’s usually the
complete opposite. Over and over we find scriptures stating that our own
brainpower and wisdom comes from the Lord, not from ourselves, and we find repeated
implications that if you think you’re incredibly smart, the answer is that you
usually aren’t. But when it comes to love, on the other hand, we find one of
the most oft repeated texts from the Bible staring us bluntly in the face:
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels,
but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If
I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and
possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to
the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have
gained nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13
These verses serve to remind us that without love, and
thereby, kindness, we are nothing. Love cannot be purchased or measured but it
wins friends and trust and a life of beauty in ways that our brains simply
cannot. Love produces kindness and compassion in unequaled amounts; it cannot
be compared to.
In the end love is the prevailing force that conquers all.
Without it, we are nothing. But with it, we can accomplish more than we ever hoped
to.
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