Sometimes, All People Need is Kindness

As an academic, I work with students almost all the time — or should I say, for the entirety of my career and I have both loved and learnt a lot from the experience thus far.

One pivotal condiment that makes me a sucker for what I do is the priceless opportunity it offers me to meet, interact, teach, assess and grow-over-a-period with people from all sides of life and I dare say, the world. May be the bane of familiarity syndrome speaking, but the more enjoyable experiences for me have been working with students whose descriptions are semi-alien to my immediate world. From they that speak in different dialects and accents, to those that process complex academic concepts through their cultural and historical perspectives to make much meaning of them — which often would leave them being far from the accurate.

Being completely honest, in a context, they would not be the easiest to work with and stretching it a little, it’s even justified to say they may be some of the most strenuous. However, I believe that is only a matter of perception and approach. Like my Girlfriend often advises me to decipher every situation, “it is all in the approach”, she would say. The afore-stated claim of honest judgement is valid in the concept of me doing just my job — and in that instance, all extra duties are sidetracks.

But then, making the extra time, giving the extra pep-talk, doing the extra tutorial, making available the avenues for questioning, not making a ridicule of the awkward, the compliment, the use of local languages and expressions in explaining the concept of Antimicrobial Resistance, the fist bumps, the study guidance, the words of encouragement; these little things are often the game changers! These simple acts of kindness (often without extra allowances, Haha) are the ones that flip the paradigm for these ones. With such individuals often ending up maligned by the majority, that show of concern often makes them feel safer, bolder and empowered to be better.

Granted it may not be practical on the day-to-day in most setups, the imprint is to try to do it in the little way possible, whenever possible — and most often, you’ll find it is possible. Sometimes, what people need, what we all really need is just a little bit of kindness. Maybe we would have to look at its pragmatism from different angles in a next time — but maybe until then, kindness and empathy may just do the trick!

~ Michael