There’s an epidemic that is spreading across this country faster than we can cure it. It’s quite contagious, and it’s caught by hanging around others who display its symptoms. There is no medicine to cure it, and it causes destruction wherever it’s found. What is this epidemic? Unkindness. Everywhere we go, we find people being rude, arrogant, and unkind to people who are just trying to help them. The root of unkindness is misplaced anger that gets taken out on innocent people. For example, servers in restaurants and clerks in stores are often spoken to with such disdain and disrespect that others are heard apologizing for the stranger’s horrible treatment of them. Proverbs 22:24-25 warns us to not befriend or associate with hot-tempered people lest we learn to be like them and endanger our souls. Instead, we’re encouraged in Galatians 5:22-23 to display the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The antidote for unkindness is simple—bear fruit. Rather than wearing masks as we did in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19, we must bear the fruit of the Spirit to prevent unkindness. We can stop the epidemic if we begin to love others freely, as Jesus loves us. Simply be kind.