“Kindness should never be mistaken for weakness.”

One version or another of that quote has been passed down through the generations as either a warning or advice on how to live one’s life.

The truth is it’s pretty easy to be kind and caring – much easier than being mean, angry, and insensitive.

Think about any time someone has been kind to you or vice versa: the aura and good vibes being shared can turn a frown around, make a bad day into a good one, or take a decent day to the next level of awesome.

Acts of kindness also make people happier themselves. It feels good to be helpful and make others feel good too.

This isn’t just conjecture or the hopeful musings of an optimist – these are facts based on almost five decades of lived experiences. Plus, there are a bunch of scientific studies that back this up as well, a recent one is summed up in this PSA Abstract.

The unfortunate part is that we have absolutely forgotten about to be kind to each other. This is most evident in online commentary, but it’s been creeping steadily into real life too.

And the 2025 Canadian federal election campaign, along with the years leading up to it since the socially and emotionally damaging pandemic, has put this dearth of kindness in society on full display.

I’m deeply disgusted by the ignorance and rudeness being shown to each other in far too many situations.

What happened to respectfully disagreeing?

What happened to sharing points and considering counterpoints with integrity and honesty?

What happened to just being kind to each other as human beings?

Look, I would love to be able to point to one side or another and say “it’s their fault,” but it’s been happening in all circles, so it’s really a societal problem as a whole.

I have a huge problem when our political parties (one in particular) and the candidates (these come from all parties) sink to the same lows as the least intelligent, most arrogant citizens in the world.

When they should be taking the high road and leading, they’re taking the low road and diving to the depths of attack ads, calling anything they don’t like “fake news,” and catering to the most despicable individuals in our midst.

When you allow your supporters to publicly post and say the most outrageous and libelous statements about your opponents without fact checking them or taking down their posts, it shows a distinct lack of character on your behalf.

When you think it’s okay for your supporters to troll your opponents with bullying and threats and outright neo-Nazi type behaviour, it shows little to no regard for respectful campaigning.

It’s gross. It’s un-Canadian. It’s politics in its most loathsome state. It’s pathetic – and so are the people doing it.

And the candidates who are resorting to these lows deserve to lose, no matter what party they happen to represent. Their extremist supporters deserve to lose.

We, the moderate majority, are the only ones who deserve to win. The only problem is this election has truly split that moderate majority in half . . . but at least we’re all still respectful to each other when discussing politics either in person or online.

We are the ones who must lead the way after this election is done and show that it’s well past time to be kind to your neighbours and fellow human beings again.

We must demand our political representatives at all levels of government are held to this standard as well.

Let’s bring kindness and caring for each other back to our daily lives.

Let’s be distinctly Canadian again.