James Crews: The Slightest Kindness

We were walking the icy streets,

talking about the ways our country

has betrayed us again—promises

unkept, laws broken beyond repair.

The silence of outrage swept over us 

with a bitter wind that stirred up 

these swirling snow-devils, like ghosts 

that followed us for a few moments,

then dissolved. That’s when he switched 

places with me, pointing to the shoulder 

of the road where plows had scraped away 

most of the ice. It was just the slightest 

kindness, something he’s done perhaps

a hundred times, but I thought—this is 

the kind of man he is, wanting me 

to walk the clearest path without fear,

making others feel safe and cared for

by the strength of his presence alone.
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A few years ago, during the worst of the pandemic, I made it my daily practice to record small moments and memories of kindness that might have felt slight, but also life-affirming at the same time. These journal entries became the essays in my book, Kindness Will Save the World—an ambitious title, to be sure, but one that still feels very apt to me. So often, we are trained to hold onto the negative, those failures of empathy and compassion that can feel like betrayals, whether perpetrated by friends and family, or by officials in our own government. It is still important to point them out, if only to protect ourselves and those we love, but we can also teach ourselves to hold onto the good, no matter where or how it shows up in our lives. It might be the librarian or barista who finally remembers your name. It might be a tin of cookies left in your mailbox by a neighbor, or a favorite book sent by a friend. It might be the simplest gesture of someone you love moving to the other side of the snowy road so that you can walk the clearest, safest path. Isn’t that what we all crave—to be seen and cared for, to be treated as if our needs matter, too? My husband Brad, as many of you already know, has been a great teacher of kindness for me, and the morning he offered to switch places with me on our walk, I might have just chalked it up as another instance of his goodness, something he’s done many times. I might have just set it aside and forgotten about it. But this time, I said to myself, I don’t want to lose this moment, or move past the fact that even as we were talking about the ways our government has broken laws and failed us all, he still had the presence of mind, the presence of heart, to consider my safety and practice the kindness I still believe will save us. 

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Invitation for Writing & Reflection: Describe an instance of kindness that might have felt small or slight at first, but has ended up staying with you, perhaps even changing your life. You might go through the next week, jotting down some tiny kindness you too want to remember each day. Feel free to borrow my line, “It was just the slightest kindness…” to get yourself started.

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Copyright 2026 James Crews

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James Crews is the editor of several bestselling books, including The Path to Kindness and How to Love the World, which has over 100,000 copies in print. He has been featured in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Christian Science Monitor, and on NPR’s Morning Edition. The author of numerous prize-winning books of poetry and of the book Kindness Will Save the World, James also speaks and leads workshops on kindness, mindfulness, and writing for self-compassion. He lives with his husband on forty rocky acres in the woods of Southern Vermont.