This past weekend I participated in what turned out to be one of, if not the largest one-day protests in America's history at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.. Regardless of what you believe in, that fact is something that is remarkable to be counted in itself. We knew it was going to be big, but the turnout that was seen and heard across the country exceeded all our expectations.

One of the many empowering parts of this day were everyone's different messages. I'd never seen that many amazing signs. The message I chose was simple: We need to be kind. I took one of my favorite Smiths' lyrics, "It's so easy to hate, it's so easy to laugh, it takes guts to be gentle and kind" and put it on a sign.

Kindness is a quality that transcends politics, policies, wars, movements, everything. It's not the easier choice by any means, especially after experiencing hurt, but we should never let our hurt turn into fear. We need to be strong when it is so hard to be, and to be kind is to be strong. We need to choose to be kind every day, in every little thing, in every one of our little lives.