Embracing Our Differences

There's no doubt that as humans, we have many differences. Boy do we ever. And hopefully, we can celebrate, embrace, and accept our differences - as well as our respective feelings, style, emotions, desires, wants, goals, and the list goes on and on. Compassion and empathy are cool attributes to have. Bias and ignorance are not.

Yes, sadly, lots of folks don't know how to get along with lots of other folks. And that's a bummer. Especially if the differences are based on relatively simple things. Indeed, we live in a world where small differences can erupt into all-out war, figuratively and literally. And war sucks. (While writing this, I'm going old-school, and humming John Lennon's "make love not war" anthem, Give Peace A Chance; come on, and hum along. It's fun. Really!)

Now don't get me wrong: We shouldn't accept the type of differences that cause physical or emotional harm. Nope. And yes, there are some things in this world that we just can't be indifferent to, like domestic abuse, racism, and bigotry. But more often than not, our respective differences are mostly based on individualism, and non-violent personal preferences.

The thing is, even if we have differences ... and we don't look, feel, think, or see alike ... it doesn't mean that we can't still be best of friends; at the very least, cordial. If you doubt this, just check out this video below, and see for yourself. After all, who would of thought that an elephant and a dog could be best of buds. If they can do, so can we. Rrrrrruuufffff!

Differences Are Good.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4696315n

The (More) Golden Rule

You've inevitably heard about The Golden Rule, right? Basically, it suggests that we should treat people the way that we want to be treated. While that sounds good in theory - the reality is, it's somewhat flawed. Now granted, The Golden Rule is based on Scriptures, and I dig Scriptures. That said, I'm hoping that the Good Lord will permit me some leeway here; and since God is wonderfully kind and just, I'm hoping He will accept my slight "enhancement." So here goes.

The flaw is in the expectation that we all appreciate how to give, and how to receive, good treatment. That's not the case, is it?! Moreover, there's lots of selfish, me-oriented folks who just aren't nice - and don't care how other people feel. So - is it okay for these folks to treat others badly, just because they're accepting of bad treatment. Nope, don't think so.

We see this phenomenon a lot in corporate America, where in some companies, senior management is indifferent to bad behavior amongst fellow senior managers. And so they pass on that indifference to the folks who work for them. It's a trickle down bad manners thing.

That said, what The (More) Golden Rule should say, is that we should treat people the way "they" want to be treated; not the way "we" want to be treated (because again, "we" could be a big-time jerk, whose happy to be treated, and treat, like a big-time jerk). And this isn't just a semantics thing. It's not. You see, in this interpretation, we become others-oriented, as opposed to self-oriented. And being truly others-oriented; sensitive to their desire/style of communication and interpretation, is a very good orientation to have, regardless of your title or position.

Others-Oriented is Good.