Seeds

World events are beyond what most of us can comprehend. The news leaves us feeling helpless. We see so much anger and hate around us. To be honest with you, we can only control what we do and how we feel. This is true no matter the event. 

We react when we see large scale events unfold in the news. We feel horror and listen to the news in disbelief.

Remember though, these events started with one seed of hate. Over the years, negative thoughts, viewing others as different, unkind words, actions and hate fester. Over time negative thoughts can lead to intense anger. Hate will feed on anger. 

Many cultures view aggression as assertiveness. They belittle others as they believe this is how you win, by harming others. They think aggression is standing up for yourself. We see that people are often looking for a fight, even when none exists.

We develop inside our family and within society. Inside of us are seeds of either hate or love. Through the years they are watered by the company we keep, the thoughts we have and how we develop ourselves. 

We have few iconic role models left to help us. Gandhi, MLK. Maya Angelou and Fred Rogers spoke of kindness and love. Kindness and love require patience, courage and self-control. Traits that are not celebrated much these days. 

If you associate with gossips, people who harbor prejudice and hate or materialist people, you will develop those traits. If you associate with people who are spiritual, who exercise their minds and bodies, who are conscious, empathetic and who care about growth, you will develop those traits.

It is easy to get desensitized in our society. We are bombarded with information. We hear many different opinions. We find others who wish to express strong viewpoints on personal opinions.  Usually, they want you to believe and feel the way they think and feel.   They want to convince you that your feelings and viewpoints are incorrect or wrong.

If someone doesn’t agree with you, it can sometimes become a personal issue for them. You can have casual conversations with people and once they hear that you have a different point of view, they may take it as a personal attack.

People talk a lot about freedom of speech, but they feel personally threatened when you disagree with them. Personal opinions are just that, personal opinions.  I associate with many people who have different opinions from me. It doesn’t get in the way of the love and respect we have for each other.

You can love people without being exactly the same as they are. The people who enrich my life the most are usually the ones who are different from me. They help me to keep my mind open and to learn. 

We don’t have to be the same to get along or to love and care for each other.  We are human, and this is the basis of who we are. We are sentient beings. Your thoughts are seeds. When you plant love, you grow love. Be discerning in regard to who you allow into your life.  

Everyone of us can have a collective impact if we decide to contribute to the common good. Don’t let the darkness around us put out your light. It is when the darkness comes in that light must be more pronounced. We do our part but our Creator is going to direct outcomes. 

We have to return to community values. Community values include caring for and loving one another because we are all brothers and sisters. You don’t have to agree with me and I don’t have to agree with you for us to live in peace or to respect each other. We all have the right to live our lives according to our beliefs as long as we do no harm to each other. 

Remember the values of humility, love, truth, honesty, courage, wisdom and respect. We do not fight people who don’t offer these to us, we still offer and show these virtues to them. We still chose to be kind. With love we hope they can grow. We walk with light, we carry it. 

We can each try to do more to ensure that divisions are resolved. By extending virtue in the face of hate and division we plant seeds of love. Kindness and love are not forceful. Love is steady and committed to the long term. When we extend kindness where people expect hate, we disrupt the toxic pattern. Instead of continuing a conflict we can make a conscious choice to heal it.