Too kind

I originally thought of calling this piece: ‘Kindness is the New Rock ’n’ Roll’ — but only as a joke. And then I discovered that the rock band Peace have a new album out called Kindness is the New Rock’n’Roll. And they aren’t joking. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that kindness is the new mindfulness; but there’s already an offspring of the two that has been dubbed kindfulness.

Suddenly, kindness is cool. And hot (or so zeitgeist-watchers keep telling me). Look in the self-help or personal-growth section of any book store — or on Amazon — and you will find numerous books with titles such as Kindness: The Little Thing That Matters Most and The Language of Kindness, Christie Watson’s bestselling memoir of her life as a nurse in the NHS.

Newspaper headlines frequently tell us of some new scientific study that proves that kindness can do this or that wonderful thing for you.