You know what I love most about this world we live in? It’s all the different personalities in it.
If we were all the same, gosh this place would be boring! While I am all about diversity however, there is one personality trait I would love to see hardwired into all of us, and that is kindness. Kindness makes this world a better place without requiring anyone to drastically change their underlying personality.
I have been playing in the online world for near on 15 years now. Back in the day I used to moderate discussion forums, nowadays I blog, read blogs, frequent twitter and facebook and read many, many online publications. Back then, as now, unkindness in the form of personal attacks, throwaway comments and snide remarks have always made my heart ache. Everyone in this world – whether they are famous or infamous, winner or weekend warrior, man about town or girl next door – deserves kindness and respect.
Now I know one person can’t change the world, but stuff it, I am going to try anyway.
Well said Kelly. Being unkind isn’t clever or funny.
Thank you lovely. There seems to be a disproportionate amount of nastiness going on at the moment. Is there a full moon?!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Something to do with the transit of Venus, perhaps?
Anna Spargo-Ryan recently blogged: On the topic of mummy bloggers and bullies
LOL – you should blog that theory. I reckon it’s got good traction!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Brilliant manifesto. Wish it could be an automatic screensaver for all the trolls out there.
Laney @ Crash Test Mummy recently blogged: Steamed Lemongrass and Coconut Mussels with Spicy Thai Roti Cigars
We should make it a pop up when people click ‘submit’!
‘Are you sure you want to post this comment’?!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
I love this manifesto. It is appropriate for my post today as well – kindness must be the thought of the moment!
Debbie @ Aspiring Mum recently blogged: Encouraging Sibling Kindness
Deb how amazing is your post?! The beautiful thing is that your kids won’t need a kindness manifesto when they’re grown up because it will already be built in to them!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
You may be just one person Kel, but you will reach a lot more with this attitude. Thank goodness we all have a voice x
Lisa @ Home/Work/Mum recently blogged: This Old Hippy.
Thank you lovely. I keep telling myself ‘the butterfly effect’!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Love this Kelly. This mean vibe is really killing my mojo lately.
Carli @ Tiny Savages recently blogged: mummy baiting
I know EXACTLY what you mean
I am most disheartened by anonymous commenters leaving horrible remarks on people’s blog posts. Just do not get it!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Yes! Yes, yes, yes. I love this. Being rude or “blunt” or condescending or nasty is just not cool at all. No matter how hurt you may feel or how much you might dislike someone, exercise kindness. I’ve recently decided that no matter what has happened or how close the relationship might be, people who are like that have no place in my life anymore because they don’t deserve it. I absolutely adore this.
Kirstie recently blogged: EXCITED
A few years ago I adopted the ‘kill them with kindness’ approach to a conflict situation. It’s amazing how differently people respond when they’re expecting a narky reaction and instead get a polite request/response!! Best of all, I stopped getting caught up in the negative energy of others!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Exactly. That’s exactly how I’m choosing to handle things and I am much, much, much happier for it. If I come across someone I’ve had conflict with, be kind. But I definitely don’t seek to fix it and make it my issue anymore and I definitely do not get caught up in that energy anymore. it’s amazing how such a tiny attitude change can significantly impact your happiness!
So excited to have stumbled past your blog. It’s lovely
Kirstie recently blogged: EXCITED
Oh thank you – that is lovely of you to say
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Hi Kelly
Love your thoughts. You might like to have a look at Stephanie Dowrick website – I have her on my facebook wall and she posts some beautiful thoughts on a daily basis. She has written some great books and on your subject matter – one of her most recent ones is called ‘Everyday Kindness’ – I find her quite inspirational. She is also a minister and preaches at Interfaith churches. Anyway always love reading your blogs – am a real fan!
Hey Lorraine – thank you!! And I will definitely go have a look at that website now!
Looking forward to seeing you guys on Saturday
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
I adore this Kelly as it is just so true. It takes far more effort and though to be cruel than it does to be kind. Life is too short to waste your breath on saying awful things. It is not cool nor is it pretty to watch its just ugly through and through. I believe you make a difference hun, I think everyone can make a difference – one kind word at a time. xxx
Sonia @ Life Love and Hiccups recently blogged: Thank you for The Gift of Being Your Mum
Thank you Son. And I agree – it actually takes a lot of effort to mean and nasty … and that makes it worse, that people are going to the effort to say horrible things!!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Kelly, lots of food for thought for me there. I’m not usually one to make comment, but I let one slip today. Have been feeling it all day.
I like kill them with kindness, I’ll have to stick it up somewhere I can see it all the time! I deal with a lot of kids and their parents at our Sunday school, and this motto is so appropriate!
Thanks Kelly!
Ha Zohra – whenever I slip I feel SO dreadful for the rest of the day it is usually enough to prevent further slip ups for quite a while. Isn’t it funny how saying something narky can seem so satisfying – until it has been said, and can’t be taken back!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
“one big dinner party with the queen” that is brilliant and will keep me smiling for a while me thinks
sjp recently blogged: Kingdom
ha ha – that is MOST excellent. I like making people smile
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
a manifesto for life me thinks. i imagine the world would be a much better place if everyone was kind just one more person a day, that’s all that it would take.
~x~
stinkb0mb recently blogged: getting it….or not…..
Indeed indeed
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Great manifesto Kelly! Should be compulsory for commentors to agree to before hitting ‘post’
Louise @ Foxy and Fabulous recently blogged: All this Mean Girls has to STOP!
YES!! It needs to be a popup!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Lovely, Kelly. Kindness is one of my favourite words. I think for kindness starts with empathy. Mean people are usually broken people who have not been nourished with empathy from a young age. I believe it starts with our children. If we teach/model/show empathy we will get kindness.
Deb @ Bright and Precious recently blogged: Going Anyway
Aint that the absolute truth! Deb from Aspiring Mum wrote a brilliant post about just that today!!
http://www.debmills.com/2012/06/encouraging-sibling-kindness.html
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: It’s not cruel to be kind. Not. At. All.
Oh, I love this post! I got my first nasty comment today and it shocked the pants off me. I ended up just going ahead and deleting it. It accused me of being spoilt, rich (so not true) and lazy. The odd thing is that nothing on my blog would give people ammunition for such nastiness. Even if it did – horses for courses, you know? I read lots of blogs where people lead charmed lives from what is shown to us. The thing is that if that is there whole life, then lucky them, but usually people have a lot going on behind closed doors and I am not going to assume a thing. Trolls really do have far too much time on their hands. They should go funnel it into doing something like watching reality TV – it’s a far more fun and less damaging way of monumentally wasting time.
Hannah recently blogged: Inspire Mondays | Camelias
Oh Hannah that is awful
The worst thing is, with those kind of comments we feel like we should respond and tell them why they are wrong! But they are trolls, they don’t care about whether they are wrong or right, they just want to hurt people. So straight out deleting them and not responding at all is the best possible thing you can do I think!!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
Oh Kelly, this is so beautiful – have Pinned and Retweeted and will add to Facebook this afternoon.
Nikki @ Styling You recently blogged: The airline, the fashion designer and the 12,000 staff he has to dress
Thank you so much Nikki. The most ironic thing about this post is last night a repeat offender (from my real world life!) had a crack at me on twitter and I SOOOOO wanted to have a crack back. And then I remembered this post and thought ‘let it go Kelly … she is clearly fighting a battle you know nothing about’!
It’s easy to say “when people are unkind it is a reflection of THEM not you”. Harder to remember and live by
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
Brilliant Kelly. Just brilliant.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Maria Tedeschi recently blogged: CALCULATED RISK OR EXPERIMENTAL RISK?
Thank you Maria – I am so pleased everyone likes it. We can dream a dream can’t we?!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
“It’s not cruel to be kind” – who said it was?
You know … that song “It’s cruel to be kind”
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
Lovely post Kelly.
Vanessa recently blogged: An ‘amazing’ giveaway!
Thank you so much Vanessa
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
Love it! If you wouldn’t put your name to it, or have your husband, mother, father, brother, sister or children read it, don’t write it! x
Emily recently blogged: You can’t bluff a migraine
That’s exactly it. I think if we filtered everything we said by “would I say this to my mum or dad or sister or brother or friend” … then there would be so much less unkindness in the world!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: A love letter to my husband
Love this, Im so sick of keyboard cowboys.
Agree – me too!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: Lifehacker Tip #17 – Eat breakfast people!
You are gorgeous. Such wise and lovely words. Big hearts rule! xo
Lisa Lintern recently blogged: ‘Mummy blogging’ – the truth
They do indeed. And they will prevail!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: Lifehacker Tip #17 – Eat breakfast people!
This is fabulous. Truly. Would love to ask if I can share this with my If Emily Posted readers next week?
I apologize. That should have said share ‘this’ post. I’d love to discuss the manifesto but send them to you!
Alexandra recently blogged: If Emily Posted – The When (Again)
Alexandra – it would be such an honour – please feel free to share the manifesto in the way the works best for you and your readers
I am actually going to make it available as a free pdf download for anyone who wants to print it out. Let me know if you would like me to send you the link 
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: No more leave for Swish Design staff. Ever.
I’ll send you an email. Thank you!
Alexandra recently blogged: If Emily Posted – The When (Again)
The end. x
Maxabella recently blogged: Pantone 394
What a fabulous manifesto – this is going straight above my computer. All too often, we find it easier to judge harshly instead of providing love and kindness and solace, and you just never know when those things may be desperately needed by others.
Thank you Katy! Why are we humans hardwired to judge so harshly? Is it a survival mechanism?! Or something we’ve been socialised to do?! Something to ponder!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: The one secret of every successful person I know
Hi Kelly
I recently found your blog and, as I’m new to blogging, have found your blogging advice so so helpful; but I especially like this poster, it’s true. However, the part about dinner with the queen just cracks me up.
Have a great day
Miche recently blogged: For the Love of Books…
Aw Miche – thank you!!
Kelly Exeter recently blogged: Lifehacker Tip #23 – Get some help