A decent world?

For me it is obvious that I need to go back and pick up on an earlier theme: a decent world.

Whether we do or not, depends largely upon us. Let's face it, when the news is full of violence, bloodshed, cruelty, despair, and destruction, it's simply hard to put on a happy face. The point of the last few posts, however, has been that it need not be that way ... or, perhaps better, it need not be that bad. We're not going to wake up tomorrow to a peaceful world, but if we want one, we have to start somewhere, and about the only person in the world that you have any possibility of directly influencing is you. If you want the world to be decent, then you have to make your own little world decent.

Now, all of you are now saying, "of course, my little corner of the world is decent; what are you talking about?" That's a good question, but I would have to counter, if that's the case, why is the world in such bad shape? We can't have it both ways. My suspicion is, first, that our own little worlds are not quite as tidy as they could be, and, second, that we tend to stop our thinking about the time we get to "good friends", and not beyond. In other words, where things start breaking down is getting the overlaps between "little worlds" to function better. This is where we get to the level of neighborhoods and communities. We need to focus more attention. It's at this level that all of us simply need to get more involved.

You should know that I'm not talking just about the school my children attend, nor the congregation (or religious group) that I may be part of. Those are part of it, but only part. There comes a point, even in our own little worlds, where so-called "others" (perhaps even "strangers") get involved. This is the interface that is more problematic. Sure, we can polish up and fine-tune our interpersonal relationships (family, friends, and just beyond), but it's the circle just beyond that which demands more attention. This is the area in which all of us could do better.

If we think back less than a month ago, we had a great time celebrating a birthday, and the guy's whose birthday we celebrated gave us a simple tip on how to handle it: don't do to others anything you wouldn't want them to do to you.

The "other", the "stranger" is "my neighbor" too. S/he is the one who simply be next to me at the time: the person sitting next to me in the doctor's office, the clerk at the store, the delivery person unloading the truck, the immigrant at the end of the block ... it could be anyone. And when you see, when you encounter, when you interact with whomever it may be, you need only ask yourself one question: what am I doing with this person that I wouldn't want someone else to do with me?

Whatever the answer to that question is, just don't do it. In the end, it really is that simple.