"This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
I've been writing Today's Touchstone reflections since 2012. Occasionally I repeat one, as I'm doing today. As I was looking through five years of posts for a Touchstone Sampler e-book I'm creating, this one jumped off the page and asked to be sent again:
I think most people would agree with this in principle. But how do we avoid fostering fear and hate? Let's each ask this of ourselves along with the question: How might I help build a confederation of trust and respect?
Consider what Antoine de Saint-Exupery said:
"I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin."
We may dislike and even detest the words and actions of some people, but we have no right to demean them in their own eyes nor in the eyes and ears of others.
Using the gifts of wisdom and reverence, let's take the high road in all our conversations today.
We have the ability to let others know where we stand on ideas and issues without demeaning anyone.
When we find ourselves in disagreements, let's be the ones who elevate the exchange.
May the beautiful best in us bring
out the beautiful best in others.
For peace and harmony,
Charlene
