A letter to anyone and no one
Sometimes it's easy to forget that people have feelings. That they aren't just tiny pieces of your day, unaffected by your nasty tone of voice, your decision to call or not call, your need to be alone, or your hasty retreat after completing a transaction. I've worked in customer service for 8 years now and I have handled a wide variety of customers: happy ones, talkative ones, very angry and very nasty ones too.
I don't consider myself an expert on humanity, but I have had enough experience to learn a lot about others and I recognize the fact that a large part of our problem in the world has a very simple fix. Be kind. Be sweet. Be AWARE and be considerate. No matter how well you know or don't know someone, there are usually hundreds of things happening to a person at any given time. Emotions come in a wide array of choices but we don't get to choice when or where to place them. Each emotion has hundreds of reasons fueling it. It's confusing to feel and be and exist.
I worked a short day today and while out of the house only 6 hours, I was treated with disrespect and lack of thought more times than I can count. I can't let it haunt me or it will ruin my day and bog me down, this doesn't mean I can erase the ickiness or hurt completely, however. I don't know why they behaved the way they did. I wasn't a part of what happened before so I can't make that call, all I know is, I didn't cause their problem, I didn't hurt them, I didn't cause their power to go out, I didn't think to myself "that car a mile back that is stopped at the red light, I think I'll pull out and go too slow so she will get to her appointment late," I promise, despite their middle finger wave and hateful glare and I had to baby my stick shift and still continue going three OVER the speed limit in a residential area.
It surely does make me bitter and effect me, but I know they have their own bitterness that brought them to treat me that way. I guess what I WISH I understood is this, if it didn't feel good to you and if cursing at me, ignoring me, being inconsiderate of my feelings didn't make you feel better, why do it? Why behave as though no one else matters but you? Because it isn't true.
EVERYONE ELSE MATTERS MORE THAN YOU. In a world of self-care and delicate self coddling and awareness which I know is beneficial and is necessary sometimes, we have sloshed over into self-indulgence without realizing it. We are selfish. How we relate to others, how we help others and how we treat others is the only way to create any sort of progress or difference in the world. Sure, taking a day for ourselves or a few hours or eating a nice treat or doing yoga is wonderful and I encourage it, but with facebook, instagram, and a variety of ways of staying in touch while bragging and remaining alone in our own world we have tipped the scales. We are way too involved in ME. In our own world where we can say what we want, feel what we want, proclaim truths that may or may not be true and sound perfectly written, how on earth are we supposed to learn true human relations and compassion?
So many horrific recent events have happened and I feel the same way almost all of you do about it and my "white silence" IS NOT VIOLENCE. It is keeping my mouth shut on a subject about which I cannot speak, a subject that needs to be handled by the way we handle others and the decisions carried out by those with higher power. I will sign a petition if you like or provide homes to those in need, but by posting my agreement or outrage so that you can see I am just like you does nothing. NOTHING. It only furthers how I FEEL, HOW I THINK AND WHY MY OPINION MUST BE SEEN.
We live in a great country and many horrible and great things have been happening and will continue to happen. In our own worlds, tiny and large, in our homes, our families, our relationships, in the world at large, in every human story, what matters most is what we do to others, how we treat them and how we allow each person to feel something and think something different and unique. A war cry I wish I saw or heard more would might look like this, "BE KIND, BE COMPASSIONATE, BE REAL."
Without that sentiment, WE ARE NOTHING. Without the ability to recognize that every person is feeling and thinking something different at every moment , we will always shoot first and wrong, we will always assume the worst, we will always hurt someone without knowing it and we will always be unhappy and in chaos. This doesn't mean walking on eggshells, it means putting others first. It means knowing that most of the time, our happiness does indeed depend on others. Because no matter how happy we are in our tiny world in our perfect magazine homes and our lovely tanned bodies and our happy families and expensive clothes and organic eggs, every time that news update comes on the radio or tv or whatever, we are crushed. Tell me, is our happiness truly dependent on only ourselves?
I think not. While this post may be called hypocritical for it is just another opinion, I hope it will reach a few open hearts and minds who may use this message and idea for good. Maybe my opinion can act as an open letter to those of you who need it. Maybe it'll make some of you angry. Maybe you won't even read this. Hopefully, it'll be whatever you need at the time.
Slainte
BRM
I don't consider myself an expert on humanity, but I have had enough experience to learn a lot about others and I recognize the fact that a large part of our problem in the world has a very simple fix. Be kind. Be sweet. Be AWARE and be considerate. No matter how well you know or don't know someone, there are usually hundreds of things happening to a person at any given time. Emotions come in a wide array of choices but we don't get to choice when or where to place them. Each emotion has hundreds of reasons fueling it. It's confusing to feel and be and exist.
I worked a short day today and while out of the house only 6 hours, I was treated with disrespect and lack of thought more times than I can count. I can't let it haunt me or it will ruin my day and bog me down, this doesn't mean I can erase the ickiness or hurt completely, however. I don't know why they behaved the way they did. I wasn't a part of what happened before so I can't make that call, all I know is, I didn't cause their problem, I didn't hurt them, I didn't cause their power to go out, I didn't think to myself "that car a mile back that is stopped at the red light, I think I'll pull out and go too slow so she will get to her appointment late," I promise, despite their middle finger wave and hateful glare and I had to baby my stick shift and still continue going three OVER the speed limit in a residential area.
It surely does make me bitter and effect me, but I know they have their own bitterness that brought them to treat me that way. I guess what I WISH I understood is this, if it didn't feel good to you and if cursing at me, ignoring me, being inconsiderate of my feelings didn't make you feel better, why do it? Why behave as though no one else matters but you? Because it isn't true.
EVERYONE ELSE MATTERS MORE THAN YOU. In a world of self-care and delicate self coddling and awareness which I know is beneficial and is necessary sometimes, we have sloshed over into self-indulgence without realizing it. We are selfish. How we relate to others, how we help others and how we treat others is the only way to create any sort of progress or difference in the world. Sure, taking a day for ourselves or a few hours or eating a nice treat or doing yoga is wonderful and I encourage it, but with facebook, instagram, and a variety of ways of staying in touch while bragging and remaining alone in our own world we have tipped the scales. We are way too involved in ME. In our own world where we can say what we want, feel what we want, proclaim truths that may or may not be true and sound perfectly written, how on earth are we supposed to learn true human relations and compassion?
So many horrific recent events have happened and I feel the same way almost all of you do about it and my "white silence" IS NOT VIOLENCE. It is keeping my mouth shut on a subject about which I cannot speak, a subject that needs to be handled by the way we handle others and the decisions carried out by those with higher power. I will sign a petition if you like or provide homes to those in need, but by posting my agreement or outrage so that you can see I am just like you does nothing. NOTHING. It only furthers how I FEEL, HOW I THINK AND WHY MY OPINION MUST BE SEEN.
We live in a great country and many horrible and great things have been happening and will continue to happen. In our own worlds, tiny and large, in our homes, our families, our relationships, in the world at large, in every human story, what matters most is what we do to others, how we treat them and how we allow each person to feel something and think something different and unique. A war cry I wish I saw or heard more would might look like this, "BE KIND, BE COMPASSIONATE, BE REAL."
Without that sentiment, WE ARE NOTHING. Without the ability to recognize that every person is feeling and thinking something different at every moment , we will always shoot first and wrong, we will always assume the worst, we will always hurt someone without knowing it and we will always be unhappy and in chaos. This doesn't mean walking on eggshells, it means putting others first. It means knowing that most of the time, our happiness does indeed depend on others. Because no matter how happy we are in our tiny world in our perfect magazine homes and our lovely tanned bodies and our happy families and expensive clothes and organic eggs, every time that news update comes on the radio or tv or whatever, we are crushed. Tell me, is our happiness truly dependent on only ourselves?
I think not. While this post may be called hypocritical for it is just another opinion, I hope it will reach a few open hearts and minds who may use this message and idea for good. Maybe my opinion can act as an open letter to those of you who need it. Maybe it'll make some of you angry. Maybe you won't even read this. Hopefully, it'll be whatever you need at the time.
Slainte
BRM
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