If the willingness to show kindness is in us, no force on Earth or in Hell will be reason enough to stop us from being kind. It will interest you to know that the impact of kindness tends to be felt more when experienced in environments least expected.
Desmond Doss, Army combat medic, and subject of the 2016 film, “Hacksaw Ridge,” provides us with one of the greatest examples of kindness of the century.
Doss was a paradox—a conscientious objector who purposefully enlisted in the Army—who wanted to go to war without hurting a single soul.
Despite protestations and abuse from military leaders and peers, Doss refused to touch a gun or hurt an enemy—he only wanted to heal and help others as a combat medic.
The Army, after a period of consideration, allowed Doss to go into combat.
It was a good decision.
Doss went on to become a legendary World War II hero when he saved the lives of 75 wounded infantrymen during the Battle of Okinawa, despite being wounded 4 times.
Unarmed, Doss climbed a 400 foot escarpment, along with the rest of his battalion, only to be met with a hail of mortar rounds and gunfire which injured approximately 75 soldiers.
Doss refused to seek cover, and carried all 75 casualties, one by one, to the edge of the escarpment, lowering them down to safety via a rope-supported litter.
He didn’t stop there. Even after wounded and placed on a litter, Doss crawled off the litter to attend to a more seriously injured man.
The selflessness of Desmond Doss serves as an example of the bravest sort of kindness—that which puts us at great risk.
His actions certainly paid off, though—dozens of men went home after the war that might not have, otherwise. This does record a huge win for success echoing through the ends of the Universe.
You can be kind, right where you are and with the resources you have. Just one random act of kindness and the chain reactions of kindness are ignited.
-Be inspired to act KINDLY, regardless.
