Filipinos have a magic word, “po.” Tiny, but mighty. It can turn a demand into a request, a statement into respect. It’s our verbal curtsy, our soft landing in any conversation.

I’ve been thinking lately. We say po all the time, but does it always mean kindness?

We still say it out of habit: “Good morning po,” “Copy po,” “Thank you po.” Polite, yes. Proper, definitely. But sometimes it feels a little automatic, like we’ve learned the words faster than the meaning behind them. The po is there, but the warmth sometimes isn’t.

I wonder if this happens because we want to be smart, correct, or right. Somewhere along the way, being clever like winning online arguments seems to have become more important than being gentle. Not always, of course, but sometimes I see Facebook users correcting and debating online instead of mindfully educating, but forgetting the soft touch that makes them real.

World Kindness Day

As we celebrate World Kindness Day on November 13, I think it’s a timely reminder that kindness doesn’t have to be grand or flawless. Sometimes it’s in the little things: noticing someone, offering help without expecting praise, or speaking with patience when it would be easier to snap.

Here’s a little game to test your “po.” Which version feels genuinely polite, and which is polite in words only?:

Why Politeness Needs Kindness

Kindness isn’t only about the words we use. It’s about the intent behind them, the curiosity to understand rather than judge, the pause before responding so we can choose empathy over ego.

Po can be that pause. It can be the softening, the space where respect lives. And when we pair it with real care, that is when politeness becomes kindness.

So yes, we say po. But this World Kindness Day, we can be reminded to try to mean it in full, in tone, in heart, in every small interaction. That is where real warmth lives.