Chapter 3 - History of kindness
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Atticus Finch, from To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch is the fictional character and the protagonist of the book by Harper Lee called “to Kill a Mockingbird”. For more than 60 years he has stood as one of the most beloved characters in American literature. He was the model of a principled white man, a lawyer who spoke out for racial justice and also gently guided his children by example rather than through fear.
Former US president Barack Obama referenced Atticus Finch as an ideal American character and mentioned him during his farewell address to the nation on January 17th, 2017. On a more personal level one of my close friends gave the name Atticus to their child (as a middle name). Clearly his character is an iconic symbol of moral integrity and justice
As for the title of the book the mockingbird is a long tailed songbird that has the ability to mimic other birds as well as have its own beautiful song. Atticus explains that it is a sin to “kill a Mockingbird” because they “don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us”. In other words they bring only goodness and contribute positively to the world and to kill them is to destroy innocence.
Dmanisi skull: https://nutcrackerman.com/2016/05/19/dmanisi-challenging-our-understanding-of-early-human-expansion/
5 skulls were discovered in the a tiny village called Dmanisi which is located at the Georgian Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
Skull 4 of the 5 Dmanisi skulls showed lost dentition and was estimated to live to an age of 40 years. The fact that it had lost its dentition suggested that he was dependent on others. In my opinion this dependence demonstrates kindness from others.
https://boneclones.com/product/dmanisi-skull-4-BH-054
Cave painting / Burial sites and Goods: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0vewjq4dxwo
We cannot be sure of the purpose of cave painting. The creative expression of animals from one individual to demonstrate certainly suggests connectedness and social bonding in our predecessors. It may have had a symbolic or religious meaning or
Research by Professor Penny Spikins from the Department of Archaeology, York University suggests the presence of empathy in our ancestors. She has also published a book and presented on podcasts on this subject.
https://www.york.ac.uk/research/themes/cave-art-empathy/
How Compassion Made Us Human: The evolutionary origins of tenderness, trust & morality, by Penny Spikins, 2015. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Archaeology; ISBN 978-1-7815-9310-3, hardback 278 pp.
Ancient Civilisations
Egypt:
The Book of the Dead was the name given to the loose collections of texts that consisted of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person through the “Duat” or underworld and into the afterlife. They were written on papyrus and used from the beginning of 1550 BCE to around 50 BCE. It was placed in on the coffin or in the burial chamber of the deceased.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead
Philosophers Greece, Rome, India and China
Quotes from philosophers with references to kindness
Socrates:
“Is it true, is it kind, or is it necessary?”
“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a battle”
Aesop:
“ no act however small is ever wasted”
Mahaveera
“Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love”
Confucian
“Repay Evil with Kindness” - comment and discussion for this quote.
Karma:
An interesting YouTube video by a tattoo artist and his perception of
A video on the film star Keanu Reeves and how he selflessly performs random acts of kindness without trying to get attention
Karuna
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=136730
This is a reflection from a Philipino person who reflects on the Buddhist concept of karuna and its implications in how it is needed for true development - by truly assessing the needs of people.
Eyam
https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/plague
This is an account of the plague written by John Clifford and George May on behalf of eyam Village.
Titanic
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime-museum/titanic#section--true-stories
https://mollybrown.org/about-us/about-molly-brown/
Although the story of the Titanic is well known- I visited the Maritime museum in Liverpool museums and discovered some interesting stories an found out more about acts of kindness that were performed during the tragedy.
World War 1
Christmas Truce
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-real-story-of-the-christmas-truce
The myth of the WW1 truce which has been popularised by many different artists, musicians and songs. This link to this article from the Imperial War Museum shows the real story of the Christmas Truce.
Nicholas Winton and the Czech Kindertransport
Sir Nicholas Winton was known for organising the rescue of 669 Czech children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during the nine months before war broke out in 1939. He eventually died at the grand age of 106 years old. His story is told in the book “One Life”, written by his daughter Barbara. In 2024 a film was released with the same name featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton. This is the link to his website and the charity that his website supports is called safe passage that seeks to help child refugees reach safety.
https://www.nicholaswinton.com/exhibition/kindertransport
For the moving footage from the television programmes that were shown in 1988
If you have the link to BBC iplayer and are a UK TV license holder this shows the BBC version of this.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0gyhg91/holocaust-hero-nicholas-winton-on-thats-life
Or if you are not a UK TV license holder here is an abbreviated version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqqbM1B-mPY
911
I have described Paddy J Brown’s story in this book as this captured my attention when walking around the 911 Memorial museum. In all honesty I could have described many other cases of kindness from the stories that I observed but I was struck by the crumpled fire truck and the story behind the ladder company that it belonged to. His remains were recovered from the rubble of the North Tower of the World Trade centre in December two months after he died while trying to rescue people. His ashes were spread in Central Park in accordance with his wishes and he is memorialised at the National September 11 memorial in the South Pool along with the other first responders. This is also an essential memorial to see if you ever visit this magnificent city. It is very moving to see how flowers are left on the panels each birthday.
https://www.instagram.com/911memorial/reel/C_s6G1ZpjfJ/?hl=en-gb
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