In Search of Kindness
Nobel physicist Albert Einstein advised: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.” He urged a new way of thinking.
I’ve taken this observation as a guide, a touchstone of thought and problem-solving, be the issue personal, political or cosmic. Often the first instinct is to get pulled into a problem and begin wrestling within its borders to find an answer. In the political sphere when intolerance and cruelty appear to govern policy and actions, it is challenging not to react with condemnation and anger even if the actions aren’t directed at me or mine.
I grew up in the South, in Texas and spent younger years arguing civil rights with friends and family, upset by the intolerance and injustices I saw and read about. Eventually, I left Texas and studied and got to see a larger world. I read and learned history. I also learned to look into the heart and not just the politics of people.
One essay I studied was Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in which King declares:
“Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust…Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…And Thomas Jefferson: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…’ Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
These words still echo. Jefferson’s declaration that “all men are created equal” didn’t specify race or religion or even nationality (and now is assured to include women). The words set out a universal truth that was later echoed in such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the world is still trying to live up to, including those 48 nations which originally signed it.
To that end one can perhaps start with kindness.
At the core and in the DNA of America is a commitment to individual freedom and liberty and to generosity. When policy violates this, I don’t think it will stand, at least in the long run.
My domain is words and of course my own deeds, and so day by day I am committed to and in search of kindness.
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement? My website has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any ways to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.