If someone told me ten years ago that a cat would teach me how to soften hardened hearts through kindness and I’d publish a book about it, I’d have thought that was unlikely. But the truth is, that’s precisely what happened.  A cat called Skinny completely changed my life.

Observing the insistence of this scrawny little guy to never take no for an answer, never give up in the face of rejection, and showing up on our doorstep again and again with the sweetest demeanor imaginable, was the catalyst for my epiphany about the transformative power -or magic- of kindness. It’s easy to be nice to someone who is nice in return but being relentlessly kind in the throes of prolonged admonition is another subject altogether and what this little cat tale is all about.

We are taught to value kindness. Kindness commonly begets kindness and the effect of that goodwill generates a productive ripple through society. So being nice is … nice. It makes other people feel good, plus, there is a tangible, personal joy in doing good deeds. But, speaking for myself, I never thought much about it beyond this basic understanding … until I met Skinny.

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