Err in the direction of Kindness

From a very young age, I was taught, as I assume most children are, skills in morality and conduct from my parents and older siblings. This was a necessary task, as I'm quite uncertain whether or not kids are born with natural empathy, though stepping inside a preschool classroom at 9:00 in the morning would have me thinking they're not. Regardless, all my compassion seems to have been taught, and I suppose I'm lucky that somewhere along the way it stuck.
The most useful thing I've been taught is compassion. It's a concept that my father especially has instilled in me for as long as I can remember, and it works along with empathy to force up this seemingly instinctual urge to aid those in need.
And I don't mean lending someone a pen or feeling sad about worldwide starvation. These are good things, undoubtedly, but they don't qualify as kindness, at least not to me, because you're supposed to do them. It's expected and the reason you do it is because you think you should.
Kindness started for me when I was forced to share or wash the dishes, and that's how it starts for everyone. You're told to do things for the sake of being kind but you don't really know what that means until you learn it for yourself.
My father has always been a kind and selfless person, and I admire that because it brings an illumination from within that makes him jolly and easygoing. He helps people for the sake of being kind and he always said, eyebrows raised and using his i-know-better voice, "when you do something kind, you should expect nothing in return". There is no reason for you to do something kind, but you do it anyway, and that is precisely what makes it kind. And the feeling you get when that light starts shining inside you is more than enough reason to be kind, but again you don't realize that until you know what kindness is.