I don't give a bloody damn whether there is a heaven or a hell! I just want people (myself included) to stop causing one another pain! Stop treating each other like crap. Stop doing things you know are going to cause the person standing next to you grief. Stop speaking badly of one another. Help. Each. Other. Stop being selfish and thinking only of your wants and desires. Stop living as though your choices don't effect other people. Because they do. Your poor choices, as well as your good ones, effect people you will never meet. In ways you could never imagine. Don't be the cause of someone else's pain. There is enough suffering in the world already.
"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." - Dalai Lama
"We look into mirror but we only see the effects of our times on us, not our effects on others." - Pearl Bailey
"Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place." - Rosalynn Carter
And once I find that quote that Gary read this morning in church, it's going up too.
About Me
- Lauren
- I am a follower of Christ, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mentor, a writer, a dancer, a poet, a fighter, a protector, a survivor, and a lover of life. I am child-like but cynical, easy but hard to love, open yet guarded, simple yet complicated. Get to know me, if you dare. ;-)
5 comments:
You ok, Sis?
Y'know... I think that the best we can do is stop doing things that hurt ourselves because we're hurting ourselves, and stop doing things that hurt other people because they hurt other people. But when you get into the "hurting yourself hurts other people"... I think things start to get confusing. 'Cause you can't stop screwing up your life because of someone else... you have to stop screwing up your life because of you, y'know? Otherwise, as soon as that someone else stops being important to you, or as soon as they stop caring for some reason, you'll start doing the thing again that's screwing you up. But if you stop doing it because of YOU, because YOU want YOUR life to be better, because YOU know that YOU can do well and be happy... THEN, and I think probably ONLY then, you'll be able to stay that way. I just know too many people who try to do better for the sake of someone else, and it never holds... and then things fall apart as soon as that someone else makes a mistake. It's okay to let other people be ADDED motivation, but we have to be careful not to let it be our PRIMARY motivation.
Yaknow?
But yeah, great words. I LOVED what Gary said about "alleviating the suffering of others". If that's what we could all try and be about, just trying to alleviate some of the suffering of another person, there'd be a hell of a lot less suffering in the world. I think we all have a little bit of power to help heal one another and the world around us. If all 4 billion of us would use it, think of how much better the world would be? But, we can only control US. ;) =) Pretty inspiring, really.
I love Gary. ;)
We can displace pain with joy. We can mend mistreatment with kindness. Grief with hope. Selfishness with generosity. We can respond to poor choices with good ones.
If you see a friend being unkind to another, bring kindness to both of them. If you're eating in a restaurant and someone at a nearby table is rude to the server, go out of your way to laugh and joke with her. Secretly pay for the elderly gentleman behind you in line at the coffee shop. Say 'good morning' to strangers.
Our capacity to effect other people with our choices (and actions) is a powerful tool for healing and elevating if it is wielded by individuals with loving hearts and kind intentions.
Though we are not always able to stop people from causing each other pain and grief, we can supplant these acts with uplifting ones. Our power to support, build, and create is far greater than anyone's ability to hurt, tear down, or destroy. Sometimes a smile is enough to tip the scales.
(It doesn't matter who I am.)
Whoever you are (although I've got a couple of guesses), I think you're absolutely right. And absolutely brilliant.
what if you're a sadist?
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