I choose kindness because I have lived through so much tragedy already. I have witnessed some of the largest natural disasters, the largest domestic attacks and the largest foreign attacks that the world has ever seen. At the brink of tragedy, there has always been kind people to pick up the broken pieces, to save survivors and to shelter animals. There is good in the world.

I choose kindness because I have experienced personal pain. I have broken bones and been sick for weeks on end. I have struggled validating my self worth, I have felt heartbroken and I have had loved ones die unexpectedly. I remember I have also lived through all of these worst days.

I choose kindness because I know how it feels to spread it. I know what it's like to look at someone's face after you distribute a genuine compliment. I know what it's like to give advice to a friend who needs it. I know what it's like to do community service with children, with the elderly, with the disabled, with my friends, with the homeless and with the sick. I know what it's like to do a teeny action and see it make a difference in somebody's day. You just never know when the teeny action changes somebody's life.

I choose kindness because I know how it feels to receive it. A warm hug from a friend you haven't seen in a while or hearing "I love you" are two small examples of the kindness I have received in just 24 hours. I remember these things more than I remember the tough things I have experienced in the last 24 hours.

I choose kindness because in the midst of everything going on in politics, in nature, in human relations and in economics, I can recognize that there is just too much hate in this world. You can be different than someone or have complete polar opposite views than someone, but where in our humanity did we forget that we are all simply human?

Kindness is in fact a choice. A choice you can make every single day. No matter what you're doing, no matter who you're speaking to, you owe it to the world to just be kind because you don't want hate to spread to you. We all need kindness, and we need to expect nothing in return when we deliver it. It makes you a better you, and it makes this crazy planet a little less crazy.