Everyday Selfishness.

Being treated poorly does not make someone a nobody. Treating someone else poorly makes someone a nobody. You see, it's not usually your fault if you're disrespected and put down, but it's ALWAYS your fault if someone suffers loss at your expense. Being respected, getting recognized on the same level as fellow humans spells out ones humanity while down-playing the importance of treating others kindly is a detestable tragedy. When I turn down a hand shake without giving the feelings at the other end of the hand a second thought, when I choose to believe that the person on the street corner is a name-less, face-less creature I loose something. I may become more popular, and I may save time, but I have lost something that, when totally removed, leaves me a smaller person.
Not saying "hi" back to someone is casting them down. Insisting that someone else wash dishes for you meal after meal (snack after snack) is putting yourself above others, and shameful. Washing your money away in tides of alcohol, or expensive restaurant meals, or nights out may be tempting, but when that money really belongs to your offspring, doing so is selfish and cruel. Ignoring someone because everybody else is shows just how little of a person you are. It is an honour to serve just as it is an honour to be served, but ONLY if you are being served because someone thinks you are worth their time. Never is it an honour to force another person into servitude. Never. We are all worn down by the sandpaper roughness of life. Why do we increase this savage process by cutting away at each other with our words, deeds, or neglect? Our personal worldviews effect this discussion more than anything else but someone's being different does not allow for their mistreatment. Imagine what could be if we stopped working against each other and started working to change the world and teach others about the beauty of peace and grace. If every person is respected think of how much more we will respect ourselves and our world. Leaving behind personal, everyday selfishness and striving towards Heavenly perfection (as though it is not an impossible goal to reach) is the only answer to worldly problems.
Talk. Wave. Focus. On. The. Bigger. Picture.

Lydia