May I preface my remarks by stating that their intent is to help everyone make peace, both within themself and with others. Obviously, I am an imperfect human being and may well blunder my efforts. You may be offended by my lack of polished elegance and you may find it necessary to admonish me for my flaws. If so, to paraphrase JFK Jr., there are worse things to be accused of than (in my own small way) "trying unsuccessfully" to make peace.

I was raised with the constant reminder that many times each day we have to decide whether we choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution and that, most often, trying to be part of the solution is the harder choice, requiring one to battle their own human nature, break away from the pack and stand alone. That is what I must do now.

I feel it is very wrong and unfair to lay the blame for our current problems at the feet of a single individual (other than ourself). I think it is even more wrong to believe that we can change our world for the better by eliminating a person we perceive has a problem or that somehow we are justified in being cruel to him/her just because we believe him/her to be less perfect that we believe ourselves to be.

The only way any of us can change the world for the better is by trying to change ourselves for the better each and every day. Each and every person on these boards who has ever made a cruel or disparaging remark about anyone, or has publicly ridiculed any other member, for any reason, is to that degree part of the problem not part of the solution. It is only when we can see that we are ourselves are less than perfect, that we can see the need to change our own ways and have any hope for personal growth.

We must remove the plank from our own eye before we can help remove the speck from our neighbor's eye.

You may say, "Well the only reason I was rude or hateful to him/her is because he/she was rude and hateful first" but that is simply not true. No one can make us be rude or hateful, or stop us from being rude or hateful, but ourself. We have to make that choice all on our own, no matter what the circumstances in which we find ourself.

When people were rude and hateful to Jesus, Gandhi or Sister Theresa, they rsponded with love and mercy not because the other person was perfect, because they themselves were filled with love and mercy. Most of us will not attain that degree of serenity and goodness in this lifetime, but we can sure keep on trying to get better everyday.

I'll use the analogy of the lemon and the orange.

If you start with a bitter, sour lemon, no matter what you do it, beat it, squash it, pound it, or lovingly peel and massage the juice out of it, you are still going to get bitter, sour lemon juice, because that is all there is inside.

Likewise, no matter how violently you extract the juice from a succulent, sweet orange, we will still get succulent, sweet orange juice, because that is all that there is inside.

Most of us are bitter lemons sometimes and sweet, juicy oranges at others, but we are all sapient beings that have the right to choose which we wish to be.

Can I make the world a better place by uncovering your weakness and shouting them from the rooftops? Can you make the world a better place by discovering mine and posting them all on FlyerTalk?

Are we more sucessful as a community if a stranger arrives amongst us with a flaw (even if we believe it is in some way worse than our own cherished flaws) and we drive him/her away in the same or worse condition as he/she arrived, or are we perhaps a more successful community if we could somehow help that stranger grow stronger while in our midst?

Might I make the world a better place if I see a weakness in you and try to build you up and support you as you struggle to strengthen that portion of your being? What if you see a flaw in me and try to help me overcome it, could that maybe make the world a better place?

I am the first to admit that I have a long, long way to go before I will always be capable of being an instrument of peace in the face of adversity, but I can only hope that I might make the world a slightly better place by continuing to try.



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 03-03-2001).]