What's Say We Just Stop?

No intro story tonight ... it's late, I'm tired and the weather guys are saying thunder and lightning are going to wake me up at 3 a.m. OK ... that's not exactly what they said, but they did say thundershowers will be moving in during the night. But ... I have something I want to say before I call it a night.

There are few things that irritate me more than people who pretend to like me or are nice to my face and then talk about me behind my back. Not only does it irritate the heck out of me and hurt my feelings when someone does that to me, it's even worse when I see or hear people do it to others. And in the past couple of days, I've been on the receiving end of that sort of behavior, and I've seen others experience it as well. A couple of posts ago, I wrote these words, "... never ever underestimate the power of love, friends ... never ever underestimate the power of love." Unfortunately, tonight I feel compelled to write something different ... never ever underestimate the power of hate or jealousy or unkind words ... never ever underestimate that your words or actions may possibly leave an indelible mark of sadness upon the soul of another.

As Ollie and I walked this evening, it struck me how much better the world would be if we just stopped ... stopped fighting, stopped hating, stopped being jealous, stopped gossiping. What would happen if we just stopped pretending to care and really did care about other people? What would happen if we just stopped belittling others behind their backs and spoke only words of praise instead? What would happen if we just stopped thinking it's acceptable to speak harshly to or about others and made the commitment to demonstrate kindness and compassion to everyone?

Seriously, friends ... what's say we just stop being mean to each other? Really ... seriously ... truly ... honestly ... for gosh sake's ... what's say we just stop? I'll leave you with this thought ... what if the person you talked badly to or about today wasn't around tomorrow? How would you feel then? Would the anger or jealousy or back-stabbing or belittling or lying or judging or bullying or condescending tone be worth it then? What if the person wasn't around tomorrow? Would you feel good about what you had said and done then? Would you feel justified then? Would all the negative, hurtful, plain old mean stuff still feel right then? Really? Seriously? Truly? Honestly? There's not a single one of us who is guaranteed our next breath ... not a single one. Life is way, way, way too short to waste even a second being mean or hateful or vengeful to one another.

Really ... seriously ... truly ... honestly ... for gosh sake's, people ... what's say we just stop?