I don’t know if you’ve ever had this happen to you: you’re walking into a building, someone holds the door for you, and then they turn and look at your, all irritated, and say you’re welcome, and walk off in a huff.
People need connection more than ever in this solitude driven world of communication thru devices. I have found that a smile and thank you can, not every time, give you a bit of gentility in a world gone crazy.
Love your writing! It seems to me that you've been drifting toward your personal "Come to Jesus" moment recently. Note, though, that being a good person doesn't get you to Heaven. You can't earn Heaven. You go to Heaven by handing yourself over to Him in total faith. It's a complete surrender. Just saying. :)
I get annoyed when I read through a bunch of comments that are just echoes of the original post and do not provide any additional value. For that reason, I almost never reply unless I disagree with or do not understand the points being made.
But for today, I enthusiastically agree that most people are good and it is sad that a few bad people can distort that reality for so many people. I have been arguing this point for years.
Hopefully this reply leans a little more toward the side of good than my typical reply does.
Hey Jared. Thanks for this. I do agree with you. In society as well, it’s always struck me as strange that 99.99% of humans are good, honest people who will do the right thing in most situations. Yet we structure our society, rules and laws to protect everyone from the 0.01% of humans who make bad decisions.
Also, I’m curious as to why you seem to place Sex Workers (you use the word “prostitutes”) and drug addicts in the same league as murderers. Positioning them as immoral people who are doing the wrong thing.
I see Sex Work as a completely valid and respectable career choice. Of course I am referring to people who make a fully informed and conscious choice to have a career in Sex Work. I appreciate some people do it out of desperation, but frankly some people also wait tables or clean houses or join the Army or become accountants out of desperation too.
Indeed, many of us “prostitution” ourselves at different times in our lives. Not all Sex Workers are prostitutes.
And drug addicts are very often people who are in real psychological or emotional pain and suffering and use the drugs to make themselves numb. Most drug addicts I’ve ever met are very deserving of our love, and our support. In fact drug addicts are far more likely to recover if they have our love, sympathy and support.
Great essay. I have learned to ask myself, when someone irritates or annoys me, "Am I going to let this person ruin my day?" And the answer is almost always, "NO". I have no idea what is happening in their life, or who may have just ticked them off, such that I'm just getting the ripples of their upset. In any case, I don't need to pass that along to anyone else, nor do I need to dwell on it and let it raise my blood pressure.
I will note that there are people who routinely act that way toward others, and I try to limit their contact in my life. Life is too short to willingly spend time with others whom we find to be toxic. But I also agree that they are not necessarily bad people, just that they rub me the wrong way.
I have also had quite a few episodes in my life where I realized that I had hurt or offended another person, and I now try to always approach them, apologize, and promise to work at doing better. Sometimes they blow me off, but generally they seem pleasantly surprised, and accept my apology, sometimes responding with an apology of their own.
And I never reprimand or call out someone for being a jerk. I just try to set a good example and hope that it may influence their life for better. But that's up to them. I can only live my life.
People need connection more than ever in this solitude driven world of communication thru devices. I have found that a smile and thank you can, not every time, give you a bit of gentility in a world gone crazy.
Only guilty man in Shawshank...
Love your writing! It seems to me that you've been drifting toward your personal "Come to Jesus" moment recently. Note, though, that being a good person doesn't get you to Heaven. You can't earn Heaven. You go to Heaven by handing yourself over to Him in total faith. It's a complete surrender. Just saying. :)
Don't try too hard. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I get annoyed when I read through a bunch of comments that are just echoes of the original post and do not provide any additional value. For that reason, I almost never reply unless I disagree with or do not understand the points being made.
But for today, I enthusiastically agree that most people are good and it is sad that a few bad people can distort that reality for so many people. I have been arguing this point for years.
Hopefully this reply leans a little more toward the side of good than my typical reply does.
Hey Jared. Thanks for this. I do agree with you. In society as well, it’s always struck me as strange that 99.99% of humans are good, honest people who will do the right thing in most situations. Yet we structure our society, rules and laws to protect everyone from the 0.01% of humans who make bad decisions.
Also, I’m curious as to why you seem to place Sex Workers (you use the word “prostitutes”) and drug addicts in the same league as murderers. Positioning them as immoral people who are doing the wrong thing.
I see Sex Work as a completely valid and respectable career choice. Of course I am referring to people who make a fully informed and conscious choice to have a career in Sex Work. I appreciate some people do it out of desperation, but frankly some people also wait tables or clean houses or join the Army or become accountants out of desperation too.
Indeed, many of us “prostitution” ourselves at different times in our lives. Not all Sex Workers are prostitutes.
And drug addicts are very often people who are in real psychological or emotional pain and suffering and use the drugs to make themselves numb. Most drug addicts I’ve ever met are very deserving of our love, and our support. In fact drug addicts are far more likely to recover if they have our love, sympathy and support.
Thanks again for your work.
Great essay. I have learned to ask myself, when someone irritates or annoys me, "Am I going to let this person ruin my day?" And the answer is almost always, "NO". I have no idea what is happening in their life, or who may have just ticked them off, such that I'm just getting the ripples of their upset. In any case, I don't need to pass that along to anyone else, nor do I need to dwell on it and let it raise my blood pressure.
I will note that there are people who routinely act that way toward others, and I try to limit their contact in my life. Life is too short to willingly spend time with others whom we find to be toxic. But I also agree that they are not necessarily bad people, just that they rub me the wrong way.
I have also had quite a few episodes in my life where I realized that I had hurt or offended another person, and I now try to always approach them, apologize, and promise to work at doing better. Sometimes they blow me off, but generally they seem pleasantly surprised, and accept my apology, sometimes responding with an apology of their own.
And I never reprimand or call out someone for being a jerk. I just try to set a good example and hope that it may influence their life for better. But that's up to them. I can only live my life.