So first of all: “Be the good you want to see in others”?! This is really one
of the cheesiest things that’s ever existed. But I really believe it’s true.
It’s really hard to remember sometimes, when you have had a tiring day, or when
someone has been irritating you, or someone comes across ignorant or even
worse: Rude!
But it’s the mark of a better person to put those things aside and remember to be the good. We all forget it- often myself. I’m a massively cynical cow. But I try to do good- to influence people positively. It’s a perpetual struggle.
But we all know people who do this, who are constantly positive and kind, and they bring sunshine into the room with them. And I always think: “Wouldn’t it be great if there were more people like ____?” Well. Yes.
Yes it would.
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Today someone has been horribly hacked to pieces in Woolwich.
When things like this happen it is easy for us to think of the victim as one of us, loving son, good friend etc, and the murderers and inhuman monsters.
But unfortunately they are human monsters, and we made those monsters. Society created them. Their conflicts, which lead to this event, have been influenced by the people they have met, their schooling, their families, television, social media, and the whole web of images and thoughts that bombard us every day.
I believe that since people’s views and feelings are created by nurture and the people they meet in their lives. This means we can fix it.
You can fix it.
You are an immensely powerful individual. You can change another person’s whole day, with a smile, a friendly comment, a helpful gesture like picking up a dropped item or helping someone off a bus. You have the power to make a stranger feel positive, or negative.
You have the power to influence those around you, by doing mundane things: posting on facebook, tweeting, steering conversation, showing love and concern to your friends or even just asking how they are. It’s not just teachers who can teach.
You have the power to help people overcome their prejudices and expectations, by forgetting your own.
But it’s the mark of a better person to put those things aside and remember to be the good. We all forget it- often myself. I’m a massively cynical cow. But I try to do good- to influence people positively. It’s a perpetual struggle.
But we all know people who do this, who are constantly positive and kind, and they bring sunshine into the room with them. And I always think: “Wouldn’t it be great if there were more people like ____?” Well. Yes.
Yes it would.
--------------------
Today someone has been horribly hacked to pieces in Woolwich.
When things like this happen it is easy for us to think of the victim as one of us, loving son, good friend etc, and the murderers and inhuman monsters.
But unfortunately they are human monsters, and we made those monsters. Society created them. Their conflicts, which lead to this event, have been influenced by the people they have met, their schooling, their families, television, social media, and the whole web of images and thoughts that bombard us every day.
I believe that since people’s views and feelings are created by nurture and the people they meet in their lives. This means we can fix it.
You can fix it.
You are an immensely powerful individual. You can change another person’s whole day, with a smile, a friendly comment, a helpful gesture like picking up a dropped item or helping someone off a bus. You have the power to make a stranger feel positive, or negative.
You have the power to influence those around you, by doing mundane things: posting on facebook, tweeting, steering conversation, showing love and concern to your friends or even just asking how they are. It’s not just teachers who can teach.
You have the power to help people overcome their prejudices and expectations, by forgetting your own.
Use your power with good intent, and talk, smile, tweet for
the good of mankind.
Maybe if those murderers seen more cat beards, or been taken to the zoo as kiddies, or had more kind accepting words from strangers in their lives, they would have taken very different paths.
Maybe if those murderers seen more cat beards, or been taken to the zoo as kiddies, or had more kind accepting words from strangers in their lives, they would have taken very different paths.
You don’t have to be a teacher, or a public speaker, or a politician to change the world, to influence people for the good.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
(It’s ok you can all go and vomit now. But do it with a smile!)
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