It is often true that the kindness we offer to others slips by unnoticed, unreciprocated. We are left with a quiet ache, disheartened that our gestures, rich with meaning, seem to fall upon indifferent hearts. We continue to see them in a gracious light—one they neither return nor seem willing to see. And in that disappointment, we pull away, drawing from the old wisdom that tells us to protect our hearts, to step back from those who do not live up to the image we hold of them.  Worse still, what stings more deeply, almost self- eroding, is when we begin to regret our generosity— perhaps something as small and tender as a carefully chosen gift, a body spray meant to convey thoughtfulness—only to stop short with a bitter whisper, ‘Why should I bother when they’ve never thought to do the same for me? Why offer kindness to those who will never repay it?’ But, my dear friend, kindness is not a transaction. It is a gift you first give to yourself, a quiet shaping of your own heart. These small, unseen gestures—you make them not to receive something in return, but to nurture the person you are becoming. And in doing so, without fanfare, you carve out a subtle legacy of grace. Let your fulfillment rest in the act itself, in the gentle ripple it creates within you, not in the praise or the reciprocity you might hope will follow. There is a quiet beauty in kindness that is its reward. Ergo, keep doing those little things that seem to go unnoticed. For in truth, they matter—more than you may ever know.

 KELVIN, Favour Chiemela