I haven’t blogged much lately and I’m not sure I have all that much to say tonight. However, I do want to share this video with you. It expresses a lot of what I believe about the world and what I try to do with my own life. None of us ever hears that “we are wonderful” enough times to really fill that gaping hole that many of us grow up with. Imagine what the world would be like if we each went out of our way even just once each day to say a kind word and validate the beauty, the holiness, of another person. Give it a try! Who knows what might happen! (I know the video is long, but I think that, after you watch it, you’ll be grateful for every second of it.)
Hi Abby,
Thanks for sharing this. I got a good smile out of it – and it pretty much fit in with my philosophy of life. I’ve always felt that life gives each of us too much in the way of pain and we should all take some extra effort not to add to the sadness of the world. I have always felt that politeness, and a smile are the cornerstones of civilization and I will go a long way to avoid hurting someone. R.A. Heinlein once stated, “Those who do not believe in politeness are throwing sand into the cogs of a machine that works poorly at best.”
While I concur with this idea, I would have to state that if each of us would take a few seconds each day to try to make someone smile, a lot of what is wrong in this world would eventually heal. Lets face it, if we take the collective history of every culture on the planet, there should be more to bind us together than to tear us apart. How do we do this? That’s the hard part as it is a lot easier to get people to hate than it is to get them to love. However, if we start performing random acts of kindness and validation of the humanity of others, perhaps we can start a chain reaction that may actually make this world a better place to live in.
It is a truism that misery loves company, and for social beings, isolation is misery. Perhaps if we can alleviate the isolation a bit, we can raise the average of the individuals around us as a by-product.
Wonderful thing to share! I loved it!
Joanie
Have to admit it, that video made me smile a bit. Ever notice, though, how socially awkward it is to validate people like that? I mean, I feel like it would be really creepy if someone out of th blue said stuff like that to me…I’d wonder why they were saying it, wonder if they were trying to hit on me, and then I’d be freaked out a little by it. I wonder if others feel the same way.
It seems so weird to have those reactions, though. We all need a little bit of love. I would love to hear such nice things–anyone would! But there is so much present that makes these little affirmations so difficult to say and to hear. It breaks my heart a little.
On an unrelated note: You are awesome. You have great opinions that you boldly share with the world. You are great.
I can relate to what you said about being creeped out if a stranger validated you like in this video. However, I believe that, if we do it when we are centered in our hearts and with nothing but love in our thoughts, most people can overcome that initial reaction and hear, at least, a little, the truth about themselves they are being told. Exactly how we do that varies with the situation. Sometimes, the only thing we can do to avoid arousing fear in the other person is to simply smile and move on. Whatever we do to validate the inherent worth of another person, no matter how seemingly small the gesture may be, it all helps to transform the world from one of fear to one of love.
Awesome, me? Wow, thank you. I’ve enjoyed the parts of your blog that I’ve managed to read, too. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you while you were here in Arizona. Now that you’re “down under,” I suppose it will be a while before that happens, but I suspect it will someday.