“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Bruce Lee
Reportedly, author G. K. Chesterton, was asked something about who was responsible for all the problems in the world. He replied, “I am.”
Unless it was meant as a joke, which I don’t think it was, this struck a chord in me. It reminded me of the quote by Gandhi who said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
There’s also elements of the Butterfly Effect to consider, i.e., “If I return goodness when presented with brutality, pettiness, harshness or even evil, perhaps that will cause that person to do so as well, which will cause the next person to do the same thing and soon, hopefully, there will be more people loving the ones who are tragically acting out of their discomfort and pain and they too will begin to respond with love.
I heard a pastor say in an online sermon, “Hurt people hurt people.” So, perhaps when someone hurts you, it’s because they are hurting deeply inside and have lost sight of options and strike out in vain, verbally or physically because of their feelings. I believe it is our duty to not strike back but to let them have their emotional venting and somehow find a way to take away their pain. Much like the way Christ took all the anger and abuse that was hurled at him during the Passion and responded with “Father, forgive them…” He took all the insults, the taunts, the pain, so much pain, because so many people were hurting because they were probably hurt deeply in their lives. He didn’t make their lives worse by retaliating or even defending himself. He was led like a lamb to slaughter, and the love he gave during this time, absorbed the sins of mankind and we had no more anger for he had none to give. Only love.
Let your love for those who hurt you be the thing they remember and hopefully want to emulate.
Our strength is in our weakness. Don’t try to win every argument, don’t always claim to know it all. Don’t strive to be the smartest one in the room. Learn and listen more than teach and dictate. Don’t call for servants to do your bidding. Be the servant to all you come in contact with on a day by day basis. Sometimes 10 minutes of silent prayer will teach you more than a 2 hour speech by a highly credentialed expert on a subject.
Be the dumbest person in the room and not the smartest, for this is true wisdom.
opnsutil 