Greater Kindness

Between 2001 through 2007, during my own "calls to action"  if you had asked me about God, I would have told you that I considered myself agnostic  and that "mankind cannot know God."   None-the-less, I still tried to love everyone even if we didn't always see eye-to-eye regarding say religious matters.  

Despite my unbelief, the older I became the more I developed this desire to do the right thing and to protect the little guy.   Where was this coming from?

Peter Kreeft in The Pocket Guide to The Meaning of Life writes "How has God revealed Himself?" In at least seven ways, I'll quote three of them here:

1.)  In nature, His creation, as an artist revealed in his art.

2.) In human nature, especially in conscience, His inner prophet in your soul.

3.) In every truth we discover, every good we do, and every beauty we create.

I can't explain exactly how this happens except from what I know today:  In ways we don't understand God chooses to work through us.

"If an employee learns that her company is polluting the environment or engaging in criminal fraud, she should report the offense to the appropriate authorities.  Decent people understandably balk at causing someone pain, financial difficulty, embarrassment or worse, public disgrace and imprisonment.  Their first reaction is that doing so would be unkind. 

The problem with this thinking is that it is too narrowly focused.

To report a harasser, burglar, or child molester is, in a sense, unkind to him but wonderfully kind to all his victims.  Conversely, not reporting the victimizer would be kind to him but unkind to the others.  The choice in such cases is between two kindnesses, and the decision should be for the greater kindness. -It could, of course, be argued that reporting a wrongdoer represents a kindness even to him.  It halts the wrongdoing and helps him redirect his life."  

Excerpt from: The Practice of Loving Kindness: A Guide to Spiritual Fulfillment and Social Harmony by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero (page 60)