This quote warmed my heart - to me it the epitome of humanity and compassion. And then I challenged myself - lest I become complacent or self-righteous in my own humanity. When it comes to my friends and the person with whom I choose to spend the rest of my life - I am very particular. In other words, in my relelntless pursuit of being alive, I allow only people I consider to be beautiful within & warm & loving into my life and I categorically keep out any that I consider to be a negative. So does that mean that I do not consider all souls as being good as another? Or that in considering all to be equal, can I not be discriminate in the company I keep? I am thinking about it - meanwhile ...... there are 2 more weeks left in the semester and I tell you it has been the busiest but the best semester! Lately, I find myself more relaxed than ever. Ultimately I feel that I know 100 more people who chisel me into what I am meant to be. Yes - I consider every single one of the students to be equal souls (who would I be not to), despite their varying academic performance.
Dr. Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the American people : should the Americans a) read it or b) return to sender c) mark it as spam and delete it?
A $2 million dollar apology for a man wrongly accused of terrorism. Is this the only "wrongful" case? Will we ever know or is not knowing the price of freedom. I certainly don't know.
Manchester United - the bestest team in the world - maintaining it's lead in the English Premiership.
Here is an article from TIME Magazine that lists, "The Five Fatal Mistakes of Bush's Mideast Policy".
"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserves a repulic" - Thomas Jefferson (I must say that contrary to popular opinion, Americans are some of the warmest and spirited people I have ever met - genuine warmth beats cool proper manners)
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer (agreed - personally I think good manners are a mark of high self-respect)
I have been rude recently - by being passively aggressive - that's terrible and unbecoming. Never again! Also I have found that I remember strangers who have been rude to me (not too many) because they leave a raw and jarring imprint on me. I am resolved to never be rude to anyone at all - ever - from now till the end of time - especially to those I love.
Hope this is the best Thursday of the week for you! Peace and Warmth and Good Manners to your soul that is certainly second to none!
11 comments:
i always thought, in contrary to some religious/philosophical teachings, that if you loved everyone the same, you would not really be loving anyone at all, because love connotes some specialness. on the other hand, to try to treat everyone with respect, regardless of all the myriad conditions (appearance, age, education. income, etc ... ) this is something important.
...I think like tom l
you can t go with devils and gods at the same time...
sort of hypocrisy for me
by the way, the photo that you use today, is one of the best
cheers morocha
I think you've hit on something important when you say you remember rude people because, although negative, the impression is strong. It's like some marketers who believe "bad" ads are better than "good" ads because people remember them.
I think rudeness is often a substitute for confidence and/or authority. The "hater" issue online springs (in my opinion) from people who feel powerless in their real lives and so lash out in situations where they think they can't be held responsible.
If only the goal of a consistent, decent level of treatment to all people could be met!
Salamaat,
I can't understand rudeness. And another thing I can't understand is people who get *ruder* when you are nice to them.
I have experienced the above; and would have to flex out my aggressive/assertive side to get any level of decency from them, which only makes me madder. I don't like confrontation when its avoidable; but sometimes i do get backed into a corner...
I do agree with Tom and reverb; love is only meaningful if you experience intimacy/challenges of it; respect on the other hand can be universal.
Tom - agreed - love connotates specialness. There are specific and varying degrees of love - some having evolved for the protection of a race. The love for one's children, for one's spouse, parents etc. - and then love for the world in general.
Conversely - not to have hate for specific groups of people, or to see them as having equal rights to be alive and to be happy is what would be ideal.
Hope you are very well - have a great last month of 2006 Tom!
Cheers,
Nazli
Fernando - how are you? A great thing about blogging is being able to express an opnion and then having intelligent people give their thoughts. It's joyous - especially when I learn something, when my perspective is braodened - it makes my day!
Your surf board creations are phenomenal and the last one (blue) was particularly commendable. All the best! Will you make one with a Christmas theme :-)
Take care
Nazli
first time i read the George Bernard Shaw quote and I love it.
Joe - yes - this quote is a keeper and I think I shall place it on my syllabi in the Spring. After all university learning is all about being the best human one could be.
Joe - how are you? Have I mentioned we still have not managed to watch Casino Royale - there is a funny story attached to it and I should blog about it.
All the best, every moment to you and yours!
Nazli
Mr. Angry - true. It is human to associate things that affect one starkly. And rudeness triggers such a starkness and often remains as a memory - unless one has the good sense to not take it personally in which case it may dissipate.
As for online rudeness - indeed, because people do not have accountability of name or recognition, they do feel they have access to take out the frustrations of their feelings of inadequacies and inabilities in the "real" world.
All in all, rudeness is certainly the mark of weakness - and lack of self-control. Actually the person I thought was the strongest in the whole world crumbled in my eyes with his abject rudenes. So your points are as always, very well taken.
Hey Mr. Angry - how are you? Hope very well!
Cheers,
Nazli
Maliha - Salamaat!
It is such a srange part of human nature; there are some people who mistake politeness to weakness and then they take out their frusrstions in life by being rude to a person who they think will take it. And it is only after some "muscle" is flexed that they become more amenable. So strange but so true.
But as for you my beautiful, lovely, friend, with words that flow from heaven - wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
Green iced tea chai smoothies with pieces of peace to you!
Nazli
Doc dear - I can't help being rude sometimes, I confess. It is a defence mechanism when the pressure is far too much - similar to an animal stressed in a cage.
Could it be an animal instinct? Maybe...
So I tend to take preventive measures: never allowing the pressure go up to such unbearable level. Let off steam, darling...
Cheers, stay kind (I'm still learning) & enjoy your week.
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