sometimes it is kindness that breaks you

Kindness came easily to me when I was young. I did not have to be kind. I just was. 

Now that I'm older, I wonder if it was indeed my kindness and innocence that allowed my soul to be trampled over. Scarred and wounded, it irks me greatly to see cruel people thrive. Perhaps because they are unscathed, because their cruelty stood like an insurmountable barrier between them and the world.

It protected them. 

I always presumed that kindness reigns at the end of each story...but I doubt that sometimes. Like tonight.