Kindness Update

On May 1st, I wrote about my kindness goal and how one of my favorite bloggers was bashed for styling an outfit from Walmart.

First off, this kindness goal is hard! That shows me I have a long way to go before this becomes a habit. I have to remember that I set this goal and I have to make an effort to act on it.

Here’s a story from week 1. My daughter and I took Summer to Petsmart. A lady was juggling a few items plus she had her dog with her. She dropped an aerosol can which then knocked a bag of dog treats off the shelf. I picked up both items, retuning the treats to the shelf, and handing the lady the can. I happened to notice she also had a spray bottle in her hand.

I said something like “Here you go”, and she responded “It fell out of my hand”. That was it, no thank you, no smile. She would not allow her dog to “say hi” to our dog. Clearly she was in a bad mood. Talking about it on the way home, my daughter and I concluded that the aerosol can and the spray bottle must’ve been carpet cleaner for doggie accidents - after all, what else do they sell at Petsmart in that type of container?

Hopefully our kind act was a good thing after she presumably came home to a “present” from her dog.

This pooch is a loyal PetSmart customer

As for Julia the fashion blogger - she followed up the Walmart outfit post with a well-researched post on ethical clothes shopping. It's interesting that her previous posts featuring clothes from H+M, Forever 21, GAP and Old Navy did not generate any criticism.

I learned that 97% of clothes are made overseas, and that the world consumes 400% more clothing than we did just two decades ago. She listed multiple companies that are ethical and sustainable. Here is a link to a good article about buying ethical clothes on a budget.

Personally I’m glad she did not apologize for the Walmart outfit; because she certainly didn’t do anything wrong! She got over 100 comments on the second post and skimming through them, they appeared positive.

Thanks for reading!