What good will that do?

There are many facets of life where we have a choice to make between doing good and choosing a nastier, even downright dangerous alternative, or just in fact walking away.

Some people are naturally better than others at turning the other cheek or brushing off adversity and anything adversarial that may happen in their lives. I have to admit that doing so growing up, and even in relatively late adulthood, has been THE most difficult trait for me to have to accept needed drastic modification. I am not a violent person but I would let things simmer inside until it got to a point where I would react. I was never and would never be physically violent but I got angry and often for no apparent aim as to why. It is only recently that I have learned to ask “What good will that do?”

I had to learn how to accept my role in how different situations played out, and then I had to believe in the changes I needed to make. There would be no more angry outbursts from then on, only measured and considered implementation of corrective actions and to ACT in a more civilised and acceptable way.

In my mind, there needs to be far more acceptance in the world – of other people’s differences, choices and preferences. This is NOT saying that you like what those people like or believe all that those people believe in. What it IS saying is that despite these differences I accept that everyone on the planet is unique and has something to bring to the metaphorical table that we can all consider as worthwhile.

Acceptance also extends to not reacting to things you cannot control. I refer again to The Serenity Prayer – especially “…the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change.” I read this as a non violent and non aggressive response to things happening in our lives. To some extent it is doing what we had to do as children and do as we are told. I supervise 6 staff and our agendas are set for us so there is no need for any of my team to get upset if we are lumbered with a greater workload than seems fair. So again, what good will that do? It is far better, and far less stressful for everyone, to accept things and do the job to the best of your ability so from that perspective it is a supervisory balancing act. I have to balance out the health and welfare of my team whilst communicating the importance of still getting the job done.

Sadly there are many instances we hear about in society where people have reacted violently towards others and often for no apparent reason. You hear stories about king hit punches in or around social venues, so is intoxication to blame? What drives a person to act violently when unprovoked? Is it their upbringing? Is it the fear of the unknown, or the different? Did they simply not like the look of the other person? What is it that they cannot ACCEPT about the situation that leads them to such drastic actions, often which end up in diabolical consequences for the person attacked?

I believe that as well as acceptance, the world needs more reasoned and thoughtful COMMUNICATION which to my mind would give us all the opportunity to face facts and understand situations and the other people in them better so that such situations either no longer occur or are drastically reduced in number. If we don’t get better at acceptance and communication, what good will that do?