Kindness Wins.

Kindness. Wins.

Kindness.

Kindness.

Kindness.

When I saw this phrase “Kindness Wins” (Stephens, 2019 p. 80), I thought “This.”

And then because I am that person, I started thinking about the word kindness, as a word. Kindness is eight letters (six with two repeated, if one wants to be technical) not super long or complex, as a word. The adjective kind with the predicate -ness attached to transfer the word into a noun.  But the gravity, the weightiness of that word is immeasurable. Kindness is not something I can touch but I know kindness when I see it, experience it. I also know the opposite when I see it or experience it. But what is kindness, really?

Again, since I am that person, I entered the word “kindness” into Dictionary.com:

Okay, definition 1. “The state or quality of being kind”   

                       Not super helpful  . . . but . . . in for a penny in for a pound, so onward.

“Synonyms: tenderness, compassion, sympathy, charity, generosity,

HUMANITY. . .”

There, that’s the word I needed.

Isn’t that the absolute baseline, common denominator, end all be all of librarianship  – HUMANITY.

The readings and resources have shown this time and again. From the Madison Public Library “Library Takeover” (Smith, 2017) to the Northern Regional Library in Ghana (Baute, 2013)  literally saving women’s lives: librarianship is humanity. It is humans treating others with respect and coming together to better the world. “He needed someone on his side. Isn’t that what we all need?” (TedXTalks, 2013). Yes. We do. We all need someone or someones on our side.

Aww that @michael is a sneaky one.

I will admit that part of my reasoning for taking this class is that I am (ahem) of the older (ahem) generation and I worry about not staying current with technology. With this module I have come to realize that hyperlinked libraries and hyperlinked communities are not about tech or technology. Technology is just a tool to expand and share humanity that is created through hyperlinked libraries and hyperlinked communities. COMMUNITIES = HUMANITY.

References

Baute, N.  (2013, November). How a modern library keeps mothers healthy in rural Ghana. eifl. https://www.eifl.net/blogs/how-modern-library-keeps-mothers-healthy-rural-ghana

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Meanings & definitions of English words: Kindness. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/kindness

Reactiongif. com (2013). Jon Stewart mind blown. [gif] https://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Jon-Stewart-mind-blown.gif

Smith, C. (2017, June 25). Madison’s library takeover. american libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/madisons-library-takeover/?utm_content=buffer8a08c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Stephens, M. (2019). Wholehearted Librarianship: Finding Hope, Inspiration, and Balance. ALA Editions.

Tedx Talks. (2013, December 16). What to expect from libraries in the 21st century: Pam Sandlian Smith at TedxMileHigh [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa6ERdxyYdo&t=187s