Saying No with Kindness

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."
― Joseph Addison

As long as I can remember, my mother has said, "You can always say no with a smile."  I was reminded of that saying recently.

A young woman I know heads up admissions at a private school in my community.  I can't imagine anyone better suited for the job -- she is very professional and very kind.  Even people whose children were not accepted at the school have nice things to say about her.

In addition to admissions, this young woman heads up an internal program at the school for which the students apply and are selected.  Recently, one of the moms at the school whose children had not been selected for the program wrote to this woman to ask her whether she should encourage her children to reapply.  This young woman wrote the mother an incredibly kind e-mail in which she said that her children would be terrific in the program and that she was sorry that she had not been able to select them, but she told the mother to tell her children that she looked forward to seeing their applications the following year.

When I see examples of individuals treating others with such kindness, it makes me wonder why we all can't do a little more of that.