This is the type of thing that gets me excited. When someone comes to the discussion with a value of "kindness" and we can discuss, dissect, and debate it for 45 minutes. It seems absurd to debate whether "kindness" is a "good" thing. Why would you want to dissect that? Just assume that the kindness is always the best way. I get it, but clearly kindness doesn't seem to be the top priority for a lot of people today, so something must be off. Maybe it is human nature, maybe it is not the right "tool" for this time, or maybe there are some flaws in kindness itself. Maryam was a cool guest to explore this topic with, particularly because she had an assertiveness about the value of kindness, believing that it almost had to be the best way. 

Maryam is an anthropologist who has lived in multiple different countries (currently in Pakistan) and has deep drive to understand people and to infuse more kindness into the world. We really stuck to the kindness "thread" in the conversation and tried to explore from all angles what kindness is and how inherently functional or good it is. The hope in a conversation like this is that by hearing us probe the idea of kindness it might help uncover some insights as to why people choose not to be kind sometimes; and maybe that helps make it more real and attainable. Or maybe we discover that kindness is inherently unrealistic at scale, so we should adjust our thinking to accept that reality. 

Obviously we can't come to any concrete answers on any of this, but it seems too important not to explore and try and glean what we can. Maryam's background and thoughtfulness allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of kindness, so hopefully it does in some way for you too. I really appreciate you listening.