Hi The County News called this one "Respecting Others may lead to self respect! Oh well! G
Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores
George Hirst
Respecting Others January 10, 2008
Got to thinking about the act of loving others that I wrote about in my columun on the twelve days of Christmas. How do we do that? The act of loving has so many faces that we get lost, so lets think about this, those of us who believe in a Godhead have been given a gift that honors our humanity. That gift has to do with showing us that we are respected.all of us, warts and all, and if we are respected then we need to respect our fellow human beings. The old saying, "God don't make no junk", puts us on the road to sharing the News. I believe that treating other humans with respect, regardless of their right to be respected,is the way to a good life. Now, I know that giving respect to people we don't like is not easy. We need to work at respecting all things because we certainly have not made things better with our dislike or contempt for others.
Let me be straight about this: Human feeling is about being liked by everyone and, you don't make any friends with dislike or fault finding. More than that, it is really a waste of time criticizing others or commenting on their behaviours, because most of the time such effort either causes defensiveness and/or mutual dislike.
Most of us are not happy with the kind of a winter we are having, however, not liking the weather does not change the weather. It does not make us comfortable with the weather. When we change our lives to fit the cold and wet weather and find ways to live within the limits that come with bad weather, we feel better and find that the benefits brought about by the weather are helpful, not only to the environment but by our own attitudes. When we pay respect to weather conditions we are safer and happier.
Now, human relationships puts us in the same situation. People who behave badly, are angry and unhappy around us, do not change with our criticizing, anger, or disgust. What it usually happens is that it makes us unhappy. When we make disrespectful comments about other people, we are usually talking to someone other than the person or persons about whom we are being disrespectful. It is like, to use an old preacher phrase, "preaching to the choir."
How do we manage to be respectful? Really, we need to be silent and pay attention to how others live. If we must react, speak softly and be non judgmental.
Our giving to charitable concerns is a place where we are most disrespectful and unloving. When we give to a cause we need to remember that we are giving for ourselves first and, then give because we care about the recipients. People with need must be seen as persons to be respected.
Politics is a place where human beings are treated as commodities and servants. There is buying and selling among us as citizens We respond to candidates and ask what they can do for us. The candidates win our votes by promises of things we want, not need.The present campaign reminds me more of a beauty contest than an effort to elect a person to hold the highest office in the land. The need for respect towards both the voters and the candidate is important. Mutual respect in politics requires that the candidate emphasize their qualifications for the office they seek, and the voter needs understand those qualifications as to why the candidate is qualified to be elected.
And in conclusion: Maybe, just maybe, if we can learn to respect the rest of the Creator's creations we can learn to respect ourselves, then we will find the road to an everlasting peace!
SourGrapesAndSaddleSores
Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores
George Hirst
Respecting Others January 10, 2008
Got to thinking about the act of loving others that I wrote about in my columun on the twelve days of Christmas. How do we do that? The act of loving has so many faces that we get lost, so lets think about this, those of us who believe in a Godhead have been given a gift that honors our humanity. That gift has to do with showing us that we are respected.all of us, warts and all, and if we are respected then we need to respect our fellow human beings. The old saying, "God don't make no junk", puts us on the road to sharing the News. I believe that treating other humans with respect, regardless of their right to be respected,is the way to a good life. Now, I know that giving respect to people we don't like is not easy. We need to work at respecting all things because we certainly have not made things better with our dislike or contempt for others.
Let me be straight about this: Human feeling is about being liked by everyone and, you don't make any friends with dislike or fault finding. More than that, it is really a waste of time criticizing others or commenting on their behaviours, because most of the time such effort either causes defensiveness and/or mutual dislike.
Most of us are not happy with the kind of a winter we are having, however, not liking the weather does not change the weather. It does not make us comfortable with the weather. When we change our lives to fit the cold and wet weather and find ways to live within the limits that come with bad weather, we feel better and find that the benefits brought about by the weather are helpful, not only to the environment but by our own attitudes. When we pay respect to weather conditions we are safer and happier.
Now, human relationships puts us in the same situation. People who behave badly, are angry and unhappy around us, do not change with our criticizing, anger, or disgust. What it usually happens is that it makes us unhappy. When we make disrespectful comments about other people, we are usually talking to someone other than the person or persons about whom we are being disrespectful. It is like, to use an old preacher phrase, "preaching to the choir."
How do we manage to be respectful? Really, we need to be silent and pay attention to how others live. If we must react, speak softly and be non judgmental.
Our giving to charitable concerns is a place where we are most disrespectful and unloving. When we give to a cause we need to remember that we are giving for ourselves first and, then give because we care about the recipients. People with need must be seen as persons to be respected.
Politics is a place where human beings are treated as commodities and servants. There is buying and selling among us as citizens We respond to candidates and ask what they can do for us. The candidates win our votes by promises of things we want, not need.The present campaign reminds me more of a beauty contest than an effort to elect a person to hold the highest office in the land. The need for respect towards both the voters and the candidate is important. Mutual respect in politics requires that the candidate emphasize their qualifications for the office they seek, and the voter needs understand those qualifications as to why the candidate is qualified to be elected.
And in conclusion: Maybe, just maybe, if we can learn to respect the rest of the Creator's creations we can learn to respect ourselves, then we will find the road to an everlasting peace!
SourGrapesAndSaddleSores