Kindness counts

IN the grounds of the Abbey Church of Dunfermline next to the Palace of the ancient Kings of Scotland is the shrine of St Margaret. Margaret, sometimes known as the ‘Pearl of Scotland’, married King Malcolm III in the year 1070, so becoming Queen of Scots. By all accounts Margaret was a devout and pious woman; she persuaded the Benedictine monks at Canterbury to establish a monastery in Dunfermline and Queensferry gets its name because Margaret endowed a ferry route across the Forth which made it easier to make the pilgrim journey to St Andrews.

We are told that day by day Margaret rose to serve food to the poor before she herself ate and evening by evening she rose at midnight to attend the liturgy. It is for her prayerful devotion, kindness and humility that she is remembered; a Queen of Scots of whom not enough is known and whose virtues are, perhaps, not celebrated as they should. She did not stand on her dignity as a monarch; instead she reigned from her knees and in imitation of Christ she washed the feet of the poor dedicating her life to the service of others. Humility, forbearance and kindness were her distinguishing marks and for these and other acts of piety and devotion she was canonised by Pope Innocent IV in 1250.

During the extraordinary times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, humility, forbearance and kindness have been the oil that has lubricated these difficult days. A patient willingness by the vast majority to abide by the lockdown rules, a multiplication of acts of neighbourliness, self-sacrifice on the part of frontline workers and a generosity of spirit evident in countless acts of charity and fundraising – these have kept us going and kept us smiling. Now, as people begin to imagine what the new normal will look like there is great hope that we will come out of this a kinder and more considerate society.

Dunfermline is also the birthplace of the world famous philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and it is home to the Trust that bears his name. Just a year or so back the Carnegie UK Trust in concert with the Joseph Rowntree Trust published an important report on the Place of Kindness in building stronger communities (https://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/project/kinder-communities/). The report highlights that there are factors in present day living that can get in the way of engaging and encouraging kindness in both individuals and organisations. The report highlights the problem that formal and organisational rules often prevent the kind of informal contact that leads to a level of empathy and understanding and it says, “modern definitions of professionalism and good leadership crowd out everyday kindness and intuitive human interactions.” Most of us have had experiences confirming that goodwill, affection, warmth, gentleness and concern can be crowded out by the application of formal procedures.

”As a first response to our faith in Christ the practice kindness must be high on our list.

A few months ago The Scotsman newspaper published an article in which a good friend of mine, John Sturrock, posed the question: “Suppose we decided that the benchmark for success, a key performance indicator, was how kind we are to others? Suppose the only criterion for an annual [performance] review was: ‘How kind have you been to your colleagues this year?’” That takes me back to Queen Margaret whose annual performance review would have placed her in a league of her own.

I was brought up in the hard school of an old time religion which never tired of reminding people that being Christian was more than trying to be good or trying to be kind and no one, who understands anything of the depth of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, would demur at such teaching. But as a first response to our faith in Christ the practice of kindness must be high on our list and I hope that there will be more of it around in the post-Covid world.

This article appears in the August 2020 Issue of Life and Work

Click here to view the article in the magazine.

To view other articles in this issue Click here.

If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive here.