How we treat people is a Choice!!

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"It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”— J. W. Goethe

What very good points this quote makes.  In our life time we will all experience injustices, accidents, deaths of loved ones and traumas of varying degrees.  How we react to the situations ourselves and how we respond to others and treat those in need, are what make those times of trial bearable or unbearable... torture or healing... for those going through it.  Compassion and Character, in my opinion, have a great deal to do with how we react or respond to others. 

There have been many times in my own life, where I have had someone escalate the stress of a trauma or experience, because of their own inability to have compassion or understanding for what someone else may be feeling or going through.  So I try very hard to treat people the way I want to be treated.  No matter what they have or have not done for me personally. 

I see people hurt by comments, judgements and other peoples' 'unhappiness' quite often.  Many times by those who don't mean to upset anyone.  They just don't put themselves in the other person's place;  realize how they would feel or what they would need in the their places were reversed. 

So often over the years, my youngest son has had teachers who could 'tear him down' or 'build him up'... by just the way they talked to him and the words they used.  It finally took a new state, new school and teachers who 'understood' what was needed to "help him become what he has always been capable of becoming!"

How we treat others, whether it is a child or a co-worker... a sister or a friend... can make all the difference in helping them to achieve the best they can be... or help in tearing them down.  The choice is ours!

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." ~Dalai Lama

http://www.dancelightly.com/



"Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are." ~Author Unknown