"DO UNTO OTHERS...."
opinion by : Linda Kirby/WGON
With all the mass shootings going on today, there are similarities in each. They are all alone. These people have been molded into the Frankenstein they have become. The creator is everyone who ever stepped foot in front of them. Parents were either bad or nonexistent, no role model, school bullies, workplace bullies, mean spirited people who come in contact with them even for a moment, no friends or girlfriends, all these things make a person feel they are not valuable or cared about by anyone. It's like being in solitaire confinement all their lives. After a while, something inside them breaks and one day that broken person lashes out to give the world the kind of pain the world has given them.
How do we stop this? We do the opposite of what we did to create it. We start giving everyone we come in contact with respect and caring. We ask people how they are today and when the reply is the usual "I'm fine", we go that extra step and say, "No, really, how are you really doing today?" This lets them know you really want to know how they are and not just giving out platitudes. They might look at you like you're crazy because no one ever cared to find out how they really are. But, once they start talking look at them in the eye and let them see you are actually listening. Let them know you will be praying for them. This means a lot to a person and will make their day.
Don't disrespect people. If you are in a store line don't give the cashier a hard time because you felt she could be faster. You don't know what she's going through. She might be in great pain and you are getting as fast as she can go. She may have a lot of problems that are weighing her down don't add to them. Give her respect. It's hard standing in one spot all day. Not to mention dealing with fools all day...don't be one of them.
The recent Walmart shooter let a woman go, telling her to go home. She revealed in an interview that she'd been at Walmart only 5 days. She spoke to the shooter only once and they talked about her little 18 month old baby. When he started shooting and got to her, he put the gun to her forehead and then stopped and told her to go home. She wasn't one of the bullies that took him over the edge. She spoke with him instead of being mean to him. If we take him at his word, he was a loving guy that was bullied beyond his tolerance. Yet, this new girl spoke to him and conversed with him. It seems he remembered that. It seems that shooter's real self shown through for just a split second and he remembered her kindness. Now days we don't know when we will be in her shoes. We need to always be respectful and loving.
Compliment a perfect stranger (of the same sex of course). We ladies love compliments from other ladies. I've done this all my adult life. If I'm in the store and a lady has on a beautiful blouse, I tell her it's beautiful and how well she wears it. It makes her day. I've had them tell me that they were low and this little compliment brought them up out of the depths of hurt. Someone noticed them.
Remember, you make the human race what you want it to be. It takes us all to create or destroy a person. The only way we are going to stop these mass killings is to remember the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”