Brazen Thoughts...

...and actions for all the unkind humans

It’s been a week, and if I could post a photo of my own rear end up there, I would. I cannot afford to send you all to therapy, so that’s my little friend up there who loves sharing hers.

Don’t freak out now, but it’s a spot I have decided to ask unkind people to kiss in a lovely, kind way, of course.

Unkindness and entitlement have become an epidemic, and the only way to stop it is not to allow it to touch you. Broads know this, but some of us (Radish!) have walked away rather than addressed it because it always seemed to be the mature way to act.

That’s gotten lots of us nowhere.

So my breakthrough in what I am calling Kind Unkindness started last week when the guy who plays music at my muscle gym (This place is nothing but rusty barbells and weight-lifting stuff, and I love it.) kept playing heavy metal. No one liked it, but I’m the one who went up to him and, with my silver hair flowing like the Broads Flag of Defiance, asked him what in the hell was wrong with him. I did it nicely, with a smile, and disarmed him.

He changed the music, but I will probably have to get in his face a few more times. This I will also do nicely.

Yesterday, I had another sweet little run-in with a nasty neighbor. He doesn’t live in the house next door that he owns and doesn’t care about being neighborly, nice, or anything that I would consider acceptable behavior for a human. When I asked him why he had his property surveyed he was dismissive and actually turned his back on me.

I walked away and have hated myself ever since. I am now praying for him to come back, and he will, so I can ask him why he isn’t nice. I will also say this is a neighborhood where people care about each other, and it’s obvious you don't give a damn. Then I will add, “We are watching you.”

I am done walking away when men, women, children, dogs, or anything resembling a breathing thing treats me in a way I would never treat anyone. I will do it kindly because, as we all know, I am still a Girl Scout, and that’s how we roll. I am no longer turning my back and walking away.

I have had some encounters this past week with a few people who were really, really, really angry also, and I am smart enough to pick my moments of Kind, Unkindness.

Let’s all take a cleaning breath, close our eyes, lift our hands to the sky, and repeat after me, “I will, from this day forward, treat unkindness with Kind Unkindness.” Then fill your heart with hope and prepare to change the world one beautiful Broad empowered moment after another.

And now, as we did in the old days of journalism…###…this one is over.