The strength of any chain is tested under strain, and so is the power of kindness. During wars, pandemics, or natural disasters, stories of nurses working overtime or neighbors sharing supplies echo Goethe’s insight. Viktor Frankl’s memoir *Man’s Search for Meaning* (1946) recalls how minor acts of compassion in a concentration camp—sharing bread or a word of encouragement—helped preserve dignity. Even amid brutality, kindness kept a semblance of society from collapsing entirely. [...]
