Kinder, Gentler

I don't know about you, but frankly I am pretty worn out from the vitriol that fills social media and the News. It doesn't matter which "side" you are on, the other side is busy slinging nastiness and shade.  It is wearying and wearing thin. It is a sideshow meant to keep us busy and it works just fine and dandy for most people.  This locking of horns has no winners.

In my life, while I do occasionally read the news or watch various newscasts, I tend to try to avoid them as much as possible because I find that they add no redeeming value to my overall life, joy, or expectancy of good in the world.  Quite the opposite is true for me, in fact.

I long for the days of kinder, gentler behavior. Maybe I am living in a la la land all my own, but I do believe that fifty years ago, people were more polite to each other overall. We had certain expectations for what you did and did not do in public in terms of raising your voice, airing your own or others' personal "dirty" laundry (because let's just note that everyone has some whether they admit to it or not) and we seemed to just in general have more common courtesy.

I admit that there have been times in my life when I succumbed to the mean girl theory of life and was uber focused on me and mine. I regret the times when I lost my sensibilities and spoke meanly to someone, when I rudely walked through a door without holding it for others, when I ran over someone else's cherished ideas and beliefs because they were not my own. I am sorry for those times and I have worked very hard to revise my manners.  I am sorry if I shouted. I am sorry for taking the low road with others. I am sorry that I forgot to be kind. I am sorry that I forgot to be gentle.

Sadly today it is more remarkable when we stumble across someone providing courtesy that once would have been considered common--holding a door open for others, helping someone put their coat on or assisting in carrying packages to a car, making sure our neighbors were okay and not in need.

In most of the places I have lived in the past twenty years, I did not know most of my neighbors.  I have tried to get to know some in the past several locations we lived with some success.  People are very distrustful.  Or on the other extreme, I wish I hadn't know some neighbors because they thought that meant they had carte blanche to ask to borrow my phone whenever they used up their own minutes, were loud and obnoxious and shared their frequent internal family grievances quite loudly out of doors, or were just plain thoughtless--leaving their trash open to scatter with the wind or piling up where it attracted varmints and bugs.

I know that there has always been a rough and ugly side to human life, but I cannot help but wish for kinder, gentler times.  I don't need to turn on my TV and watch every horrific example of human discourtesy.  Frankly, I have to say that I feel that "celebrities" behaving badly have created a culture where everyone thinks that the more openly they are shouting, fighting or just plain being ugly and mean is something to which to aspire. It saddens me as I see youth speaking rudely to each other and their elders, pushing and shoving in restaurants and movie theaters, and just not giving a damn about much of anything other than their own momentary satisfaction and gratification.

I wish for the days when we stopped to chat amiably with our neighbors. Where we opened doors for those coming in and said thank you, please, yes ma'am and no sir. I wish for the niceties of society where things were classier and more polished and we reached for being above petty behavior, mean words or actions and revenge. *sigh*

So today I must begin in my own consciousness to turn off these behaviors or even recognizing them.  I am looking for the good, the kind, the gentle. I must remove the idea of rudeness, meanness, sharp tones, ugliness within my consciousness. I can turn off my television and I do in fact hold doors open, say please, thank you, you're welcome and I speak in a civilized tone and manner for the most part.  It begins with me and part of my focus is to ignore the junk we are being spoon fed daily. I am officially taking a social media/mean girls/rudeness sabbatical. I may never return from it.  If I do go on social media, it will be to uplift, inspire, show the good, display kindness and love.

So let me end today by simply saying I wish you a delightful day where you greet happy neighbors and friends in a tone of mutual admiration and acknowledgement. May you please have a lovely environment to move, live and have your being, thank you very much.

(c) 2017 SZing, Spiritual Creator. All Rights Reserved.  Photographs courtesy of Pixabay public domain images.