Kindness is a Survival Skill

I think we can all agree that 2024 was a hard year. Personally, collectively, things were rough! And while there was some glimmers of hope for the future of the US, they got dashed as well leaving us with more hardship ahead.

As I was reflecting on my favorites of the year, I realized that they all had one thing in common: they have a focus on kindness and connection. Two things I desperately need in my own life. And to be honest, we’re not going to get through the next few years without kindness (and yes, I know there are MANY people who don’t deserve your kindness).

So, here are a couple of my favorites of 2024 and how they show the power of kindness and connection.

Let’s start with my favorite movie of the year: The Wild Robot. This is the second year in a row where my favorite movie happened to be an animated movie. Animation is a medium, not a genre! Anyway, I knew I would be deeply affected by this film since Chris Sanders directed it and he is responsible for many of my therapy bills with Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon in his filmography.

Based on the book by Peter Brown, the film follows Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), a robot sent to help humans. However, her box didn’t make it to the intended destination, but rather a place with no humans, only animals. The animals want nothing to do with her, and she manages to accidentally kill a goose whose nest had some eggs. Roz protects the egg and the gosling hatches. She now has a mission! To take care of this little guy, Brightbill (Kit Connor) and a found family forms with a fox Fink (Pedro Pascal).

While the animation is stunning (hand-painted backgrounds!) and it boasts a stellar voice cast, I was mostly taken by the message of kindness throughout. The title of this newsletter is a direct quote from the film. The animals go through quite a bit, and even though it’s part of Roz’s programming that makes her help, she also knows it’s the right thing to do. Even to animals who think they don’t need or want her help. Because kindness isn’t meant to earn a trophy, you do it because it’s right. It’s such a simple message and really stuck with me in the months since I saw it.

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The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst was my favorite book of the year. It follows a librarian, Kiela, who is forced from her library due to civil unrest. She winds up returning to her home island with sentient spider plant, Caz. All she wants to do is stay hidden with the (stolen) books, but the locals try to get her out of her shell and she realizes the island might need her help.

It’s another simple story, but one I desperately needed. Kiela previously only felt connection with books, not people. But the locals, particularly merhorse farmer Larran, continue to show her kindness with construction help and food, which makes her realize she doesn’t want to be alone. She wants to be around people even though she fears that she might have brought trouble directly to them. Sometimes prickly people need to feel wanted and accepted, and small acts of kindness can go a long way.

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This one is a bit of a stretch since it only has two characters, but my brain has been completely stuck on Maybe Happy Ending since I saw it on Broadway a few weeks ago. The musical is about two Helperbots, Oliver (Darren Criss) and Claire (Helen J. Shen), who live in a sort of retirement community for old Helperbots. Oliver’s waiting for his old owner to return and does the same thing every day until Claire knocks on his door asking for a spare charger. Initially, he doesn’t want to help her, but eventually he does and the two begin a bit of a friendship and fall in love.

While not as straightforward with its message of kindness, I still was struck by how it shone through. I’d say this one is even more about connection, since both Helperbots live solitary existences after their owners sent them away. Also, it’s not lost on me that two of my favorites are about robots! And not in a way that makes you worry about the future. The underlying human qualities these characters have is what draws you in. If they can show kindness, so can we.

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A little bonus entry and it’s more because I want to talk about kindness within a franchise, notably, the Star Wars franchise. While not technically my favorite TV show of the year, or even favorite Star Wars show of 2024 (RIP The Acolyte), I’ve been loving every episode of Skeleton Crew since it premiered in December. Yes, it’s basically Star Wars Goonies, but the Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean elements WITHIN the Star Wars universe is keeping me engaged.

What else I enjoy about the show is the cast of young characters and the little acts of kindness from the characters. Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) is the kindest character, and it’s his biggest strength. The fourth episode was his spotlight where he shows Hayna (Hala Finley) that maybe violence isn’t the answer. The sixth episode has Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), the lead character who is mostly the ringleader for all the adventures, slows down and help KB (Kyriana Kratter) with her medical issue. Again, kindness. Maybe it’s because this show is geared toward children (technically all Star Wars is for children, but you get what I mean), but I really appreciated the focus on this.

Because it reminded me that kindness is such an underrated character trait in the Star Wars universe. Particularly, I remembered that Rey embodied kindness the most, and it shone all through The Rise of Skywalker. You have a character who was abandoned by her parents and instead of being cynical or mean, she encountered BB-8 and immediately helped him with his antenna. Hope is usually the word thrown around a lot, but for Rey, Neel, and Wim, maybe the galaxy far, far away actually needs more kindness.

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I think that’s enough yapping on kindness and how each of my favorites of 2024 embodied this quality. What were your favorites of the past year? Are you hoping to bring more kindness to the world in 2025?