From a young age, my parents have always taught me to express kindness because we don’t know what battles other people are facing.

Throughout elementary school, we were taught to always "treat others the way you want to be treated." This phrase was plastered on every classroom wall and in every class syllabus.

However, somewhere along the line, we have forgotten this quality and instead adopted other characteristics in hopes that they will make us successful. I mean, being nice won't get me an A on that test or being kind won't balance that equation.

At the end of the day, employers, professors and others present in our academic and career lives don't care about how nice we are (most of the time); instead, they care about the efficiency and intelligence we use to do our work. That is the very reason why kindness in the modern world has been waning.

We don't celebrate kindness because, well, the kind guy doesn't go far. Those who are selfishly motivated and dangerously cunning go far — because we let them. These people are smart and effective. They don't have feelings, and they don't care who they hurt because they do not possess kindness.

Kindness is now viewed as a weakness.

Imagine you're at an interview in which the interviewer asks, "what are some qualities you possess?" If you said, "I am organized and self-motivated" then you may appear as a well-qualified individual.

However, if you said, "I am kind" then the employer would be confused. I mean, you're kind, so what? How will you help improve the company? How will we make more this quarter? Kindness can't solve that.

In today's society, everything has become a competition. People think of ways they can be better than others without regard to who or what they may damage. I am appalled by this. People don't see that if someone in their community, their university, their life accomplishes something amazing it can leave a ripple of impact.

In the end, I would rather die knowing that people thought of me as a kind, genuine person. The medals, trophies or awards I may win are insignificant. Being kind is simple; it's a smile, a wave, a compliment.