I’ve been thinking about my daily interactions with students as a source of some many daily opportunities to show kindness, but certainly the first place one should look is one’s own home. Most auto accidents, we’re told, happen close to home. This is because of the kernel of truth in the cliche that familiarity breeds, if not contempt, at least indifference and inattention. Perhaps the same is true, sadly enough, of our own home life at times. We take for granted what we see daily if we’re not careful, yet nowhere else are the opportunities for the grace of kindness more plentiful than at home. That we need from time to time to remind ourselves of this simple fact is saddening and humbling.

The quoted excerpt is from Father Frederick Faber’s Spiritual Conferences, excerpted here.