Be a friend to the whole human race

 

One must see in every human being only that is worthy of praise. When this is done, one can be a friend to the whole human race. If, however, we look at people from the standpoint of their faults, then being a friend to them is a formidable task....Thus it is incumbent on us, when we direct our gaze toward other people, to see where they excel, not where they fail."

-Abdul-Baha

"Be a friend to the whole human race."

At work, our team has been attending a four-part series every Monday entitled Deeper than Diversity presented by Eric Dozier and Homa Tavangar from the Oneness Lab (Oneness Lab). This has been a tremendously interesting series and I am legitimately sad the last session was yesterday. There were so many moments in the training that made me pause and reflect on my own behavior and my responsibility to the world. In fact, several posts could be dedicated to the lessons learned but I will focus on one here. 

A theme presented is that humans treat each other in a very transactional way and not as friends or family. Once we start to treat people with connection, then the world becomes different. As they taught, once we focus on the Five Roots of Real Relationship - Frequency, Proximity, Imagination, Reciprocity, Knowledge, then we start viewing all humans in a more connected way. This resonates with me. It makes me think about how I approach just about everyone I come across in my life.  

“Do not be satisfied until each one with whom you are concerned is to you as a member of your family. Regard each one either as a father, or as a brother, or as a sister, or as a mother, or as a child. If you can attain to this, your difficulties will vanish, you will know what to do.”

-Abdul-Baha

Yesterday was a tough day for a multitude of reasons. I have a fair amount going on in my world at the moment - work and personal life are a bit stressful. Not unlike everyone else but I was feeling it a bit more than usual yesterday. I was looking forward to getting into my car and having an easy night at home. It is getting darker earlier and that means I am looking forward to hunkering down in the evenings, lighting a candle in the kitchen or a fire in the fireplace. In my head, the quote kept coming into my head.

"Be a friend to the whole human race." 

I walked outside at 4:30 p.m. and the sun was shining. I noticed something on my car window. Immediately I wonder if I somehow received a parking ticket. Then I notice that another car aside from an empty space also has this piece of paper on their window and it does not look like a parking ticket. It looks like a ripped piece of paper. I walk over to my car and take a look at what was left for me.

Transactional, at the very least. 

I am used to parallel parking because of many years of city living. I may not be great at a lot of things - I tend to be pretty solid at parallel parking. Was it my best parking job? No, definitely not. Was it my worst? Definitely not. Could I have taken greater care to park within both lines? Absolutely. Had I blocked in the car that I could see? No. No I did not. Could I have done things differently? Absolutely, I own my part and feel badly if this person felt in any way burdened because they were not able to leave their parking space as easily as they would like. Having said this, does this person have these printed notes in their car waiting for the moment to arise? The amount of negativity and resentment that one must harbor to print, rip, place for a fellow human to find is almost mind-boggling. The unhappiness that someone must feel to assume that I purposefully tried to make their life difficult made me stop. It takes so much more energy to live like this. Would this person have left a note for a friend or family member? I choose to live differently. 

"Be a friend to the whole human race."

Time to put on One Love by Bob Marley and let's get cooking. Actually......not tonight. Tonight you don't need to cook. Last night I went home and sat on the couch with my daughter, ate delivered pizza and watched two movies. We didn't do household chores. We didn't work on college applications. We didn't pay bills. We didn't even study all that much. We sat together with our Chappy, and we watched one Spiderman movie....and then another. We laughed and we were brought along for the ride of the films. It was an amazing night, blissful. So tonight, get take-out or delivery and focus on having a simple moment alone or with your family or friends. Take the time. It's worth it.

Peace