GIVE THE COOKIE: Theory

After consider the metaphorical aspect of the cookie, it is time to put its theory to work.

What we want to do is be kind. What we want to know is HOW?

There are clearly a lot of ways to go about aiding our fellow man. It's easy to get a little lost and even easier to get very abstract and very impersonal. When you donate fifty dollars to a relief fund, you know that you are improving the well-being of someone, somewhere, somehow. The experience is absolute, but vague. Who are you helping? What do they look like? Where do they live? What exactly is your donation going towards? The big picture is, of course, important, but it doesn't foster the same kind of positive self-feeling that smaller, more personal acts of kindness do (see tomorrow's lesson: EAT THE COOKIE).

What little thing can we do?
WE CAN BAKE COOKIES.

Share them with your friends, your wife, your brother, the kids in your english class, your co-workers. Share them with the people you see around you. Spread your cookies about the land. While you're at it, tell your mother you love her. Wear your favorite earrings. Smile at someone. Set the table. Resist your cruel impulses. Enable your best. And if you can't do everything, don't beat yourself up. Bake the cookies. We, as humans, need simple kindnesses like these. They won't fix the biggest problems, but a happier world is the best environment in which to take care of them.

If you ask yourself why: because there is no reason not to. Kindness at its simplest, smallest level is kindness absent of ideological impulse. You're not nice to someone in this way because you agree with them, or because you want something from them, or because you want to impress someone. Though those reasons may be helpful effects, we give the cookies because they are meant to give.

I hope this is all making sense. Next (formal) lesson: EAT THE COOKIE. Stay tuned for something easy : ). In the meantime: happy baking.

L. Greene