By Kristn Brumm (kbxmas)
There is so much in the world that is beyond our control. There are people who choose to fill their hearts with hate and their lives with violence. We can't change that. All we can ever do is choose how we will respond to the world.
You may think, but I am only one person, I feel so powerless. But I disagree. One person has tremendous power. Why? Because we humans are sympathetic creatures. We resonate with the energy around us. If you respond to me with anger, chances are good I will become angry. But what if you have the courage to respond to me with love? You have just changed the game.
In February I wrote a post on my blog called God Hates Donuts? It was about a group of counter-protesters who responded to hate
with humor
Most page views ever on any post I've written.
In that post I quoted Martin Luther King:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction
What does drive out darkness? Love. Tolerance. Compassion.
So imagine with me for a moment....
What if whenever we encountered this
we responded with this
What if when something bad happened to people who didn't look like us
instead of listening to others assign blame
we just listened to our hearts?
What if we stopped trying to resolve our conflicts like this
and instead tried more of this
Because if we did, maybe, just maybe, we could prevent anything like this from ever happening again
I know we can never eradicate violence and hatred from the world. There will always be those who are deeply rooted in fear and who will choose hate over love every time. But I'd like to believe they are a small minority, an annoying dripping faucet in the night. The rest of us are a sea of compassion, hopeful, yielding, open-hearted, waiting to be swayed by your decision to chose love.
Because while there will always be discrimination in the world, there will always be bias and judgment, every now and then a majority will rise up in a single voice and surprise us
Kristin writes at Wanderlust
There is so much in the world that is beyond our control. There are people who choose to fill their hearts with hate and their lives with violence. We can't change that. All we can ever do is choose how we will respond to the world.
You may think, but I am only one person, I feel so powerless. But I disagree. One person has tremendous power. Why? Because we humans are sympathetic creatures. We resonate with the energy around us. If you respond to me with anger, chances are good I will become angry. But what if you have the courage to respond to me with love? You have just changed the game.
In February I wrote a post on my blog called God Hates Donuts? It was about a group of counter-protesters who responded to hate
with humor
Photo from EDW Lynch story, LaughingSquid
Most page views ever on any post I've written.
In that post I quoted Martin Luther King:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction
What does drive out darkness? Love. Tolerance. Compassion.
So imagine with me for a moment....
What if whenever we encountered this
KKK rally
we responded with this
KKK counter protest, Athens, GA, photo by Gregory Skibinski
What if when something bad happened to people who didn't look like us
Earthquake, Haiti, Jan 2010
instead of listening to others assign blame
Pat Robertson
we just listened to our hearts?
helicopter preparing for water drop
What if we stopped trying to resolve our conflicts like this
near Israel/Palestine border
and instead tried more of this
I know we can never eradicate violence and hatred from the world. There will always be those who are deeply rooted in fear and who will choose hate over love every time. But I'd like to believe they are a small minority, an annoying dripping faucet in the night. The rest of us are a sea of compassion, hopeful, yielding, open-hearted, waiting to be swayed by your decision to chose love.
Because while there will always be discrimination in the world, there will always be bias and judgment, every now and then a majority will rise up in a single voice and surprise us
Election night 2008, U.S.
Kristin writes at Wanderlust
