Even if You’re Kind, People Will Misunderstand You

The sad thing is, no matter how good or kind or gentle you are, there are going to be people out there who would like to do nothing more than to tear you down. In fact, the kinder, or better you are as a person, the more people will want to misunderstand you or hurt you in some way. You see, the best people remind us of our insecurities, our own fallacies, our broken qualities. And we wait eagerly to see where their flaws are so we can jump on them and say “You see? I knew he/she was a mess!”

And honestly, we are all messes. We are all made of terrible and beautiful things and some of us aren’t tidy, and some of us drink too much, or do drugs to cope, or sleep with strangers, we all have different ways of surviving life. The only way to truly know a human being is to see how kind they are. If they do things for others at a cost to themselves. And people still misunderstand that.

I have friends who rescue injured animals and volunteer with the elderly and children with disabilities, who are kind to everyone but are still judged for their flaws, no matter how minor they are. Because goodness, amongst everything else, is a thing people do not like to take at face value. They’d rather question it, see it as a threat to their own worth as a human being.

What I am trying to say is, be good, be kind. But remember, you will still be disliked. Try not to let it hurt your beautiful soft heart when even close friends suddenly turn on you and betray you, spread evil lies about you, exaggerate your poor qualities, no matter how small. Instead rise above it, rise above all the drama and do not lower yourself to their level. Stay good and stay pure. Because that is how you add value to this world.

Nikita Gill is a poet and the author of the book
Your Soul Is A River.

Your Soul Is A River is available as a physical and electronic book. You can buy it here.