There it was on the side of an MTA bus: a simple animation of a pump, with the word "cruel" written next to it, and then the MTA logo with the word "kind" next to it. I almost spilled my tea at the simplicity of it all. If only the world could be broken into binaries of "cruel" and "kind." If only cruelty and kindness could be that simple.

Cue Mary Oliver: "Mostly, I want to be kind./And nobody, of course, is kind/or mean,/for a simple reason.