There have been times recently that I have had to walk away from social media and the news because it hurt my heart to read the things people were saying to each other, about each other, the lines being drawn, the deals being made, the talks about boarders and bans. I always knew that incivility and disrespect get far more air time than civility and respect, but it seemed to be reaching a point of no return.
But, just when I began to question the level of respect, compassion, care, and love we have for each other as human beings, we all stopped to focus on 13 people stuck in a cave half way across the world. We didn’t know their names. We didn’t know their backgrounds. We only knew that they were 12 boys and a coach who were found alive after being missing for over a week and we wanted them to stay safe and be saved. We witnessed incredibly smart and brave people from around the world come together to rescue strangers, putting their lives at risk in a way that most of us would only think about doing for family.
But, perhaps that is the key to all of this. If we treated strangers like family, if we functioned more from love rather than fear, if we really acknowledged how small the world really is, if we recognized that we depend on each other far more than we know, we would be far more happier, far more content, far more successful, and far more…well, human. More of us love than hate. More of us care than condemn. More of us protect than deflect. More of us help than hurt.
I will focus on the more.
#deanlove – Dean Wenner