Sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never harm me. It’s a children’s nursery rhyme which I am sure we all knew growing up. But it’s a lie. Words do hurt and often it’s people throwing these words carelessly around that causes the damage.
In a world that is so full of hate, crime and negativity it almost becomes easy to knock someone down with hurtful words or spiteful actions. In so many ways our world has become selfish place where people no longer consider someone else. In a way, everyone becomes a bully. They push in front of you in traffic without even a lift of the hand to say thank you, because just like you, they are trying to get home or to somewhere important. They bash you in the local grocery store aisle simply because they just don’t see you there and sometimes quite frankly, they just don’t care. They speed up and race through an amber traffic light and often jump a red light too because life is just too busy and it’s just not possible to stop because it will delay them even more, never mind the fact that they are putting someone else’s life in danger.
It’s a daunting and sad picture that paints our world and it’s happening on a daily basis.
But if you flip the proverbial coin over to the other side you have people who do care. They compliment you when you look nice. They wave you in front of them in the traffic or if you stopped to let them in, they actually take a moment to lift their hand in thanks. They stand in front of you in the queue at the local grocery store and see you only have two items compared to their trolley full and they let you go in front of them. They leave their R5 change in the parking lot pay machine for some unsuspecting person behind them to pay for their parking. The cashier smiles at you and actually listens for your answer after she has asked how you are.
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies ~ Mother Teresa
You see to give back in life, to make this world a little happier, and to spread a little more love, it is the really simple, small things that count.
This morning I came across this video that warmed my heart. A company introduced a new ad to the world and in return they were bombarded with hateful, negative, and simply sad feedback. It’s funny how in today’s times people find it so easy to pen a hateful email or comment rather to than to say something nice. Words seem to spill far too easily out of people’s mouths when it’s something negative, hateful or even accusing. But in response to the outpouring of negativity, the company did something amazing to show the world that in the end love will always outshine hate.
And to show you what started all the bombardment of hateful emails, this is the original 30 second ad that started it all. I can only shake my head for I really don’t get the hate that some people see.
So next time someone cuts you off in traffic or bumps into you at full force without even the turn of the head and a mumbled sorry, remind yourself by saying ‘forgive them for they know not what they do’. We are all human at the end of the day, but maybe it’s time for each person to start standing accountable for their actions and maybe being a little nicer to our fellow human beings (and animals too) for we are all in this life together.
As you my readers know, I have this ridiculously amazing believe that despite everything, our world IS a good place. It is full of love and compassion and giving. You just have to sift through the hatred and negativity because through it all, love will shine through ~ it always does.
You don’t have to discover penicillin or walk around the world to make a change that really matters. But let us more and more insist on raising love, kindness, understanding, and peace.
Start small.
Slow down.
And help turn the world into a place of love rather than hate.
It simply starts with you…
“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded.” ~ Bessie Anderson Stanley
Walking4Air 