I knew what was about happen in my brain the moment I saw it, so I kept walking.

I was taking a short walk during a break at work today when I came across a sticker posted on a board. I got another 20 paces or so past it before I turned back to read it again.

The sticker read “KIND PEOPLE ARE MY KIND OF PEOPLE”.

Kind people? I couldn’t avoid the thought — these days especially — that “kind people” can mean two entirely different things to different people. Specifically, one of two types of people. You’re undoubtedly familiar with the labels: democrats and republicans, left and right, progressive and conservative, libtards and fascists, pedo-cannibals and Neo-Nazis, etc.

A sigh escaped me as I began to have the cynical thoughts that I believe plague many of us these days.

Is the message truly innocuous and well-meaning? Does it refer to people who are, in a very general way, considerate and courteous to other people, regardless of who they are and with no expectation of reward or reciprocation?

Or is it instead referring to the ones that meet a specific set of values and ideals, as in “This person is kind because they share my values and beliefs”?

What kind of message is this, really? What kind of agenda is hiding behind it, if any? How am I supposed to feel about it? Can’t I just take a walk without having to think about this crap? What does this train of thought say about my state of mind? What the hell is wrong with me!?

And down I spiral.

A quick existential crisis, in and out, then back to work.

I realized in that moment that this experience is probably being shared, at least to some degree, by nearly everyone in this country. It’s nearly impossible to see any messaging as anything other than propaganda trying to convince me of something or, failing that, just insult and dehumanize me.

After all, anybody can see themselves as being kind, as being the “good guy”.

Nazis were “kind” for ensuring the safety of the master race by murdering millions of Jews. Dictators are “kind” for aligning everyone with the “right” values by crushing dissenting voices. The Natural Family Foundation is “kind” for saving the world by outlawing same-sex or transgender parents.

That’s the problem I see with the extreme and exclusive rhetoric firehosed from the Trump administration. Kindness, in the far-right conservative sense, seems more akin to “rightness”. For that reason, I find it difficult to take any comfort from kitschy aphorisms like the one I found myself staring at today. Everything feels disingenuous.

What’s more, I don’t think it’s something that just happened through any natural course. We are like this on purpose. We are like this for a reason.

As Sherlock Holmes coolly put it upon donning ladies attire, destroying a platoon of Moriarty’s henchmen, and throwing Watson’s wife out of a moving train car, “That was no accident. It was by design.”

Ok, that’s a bit of a stretch. I just really like that quote and wanted an excuse to use it.

However, Dr. Watson’s bemusement and frustration after being ambushed during his honeymoon feels relatable. The man of science who has sworn to first do no harm finds himself fighting for his life and for his loved ones. Everything feels like an attack because, quite frankly, we’re constantly being attacked with words.

I don’t like upsetting people or “making waves” with my words, but I think it might come to that.