The world’s problems may feel overwhelming as can our thoughts about how we may not believe what we can do will make a difference. But just like those who give no thought or care to what they do to cause harm, through indifference or anger or hate, we can counter their harm by doing good.

And in fact we must for many reasons.

One, for survival.

You have probably heard the story about the scorpion and the frog.  Paraphrased here, the scorpion comes to the edge of a body of water and says, “Hey frog, give me a ride to the other side.” The frog laughs and replies, “No way! You will sting me and we will both drown.” Now the scorpion, being the charmer he is, replies, “No I won’t because I don’t want to drown!” Wanting to believe because he’s a good guy, the frog slides close to the scorpion so the scorpion can climb on his back and says, “All right. Hop on.” When the frog finally hits his stride in the water, suddenly he feels the scorpion’s sting and he yells, “Aah! You said you wouldn’t sting me!” Sadly, knowing they are both going to die, the scorpion sighs and replies, “I know. But it’s my nature” as they both slip below the water’s surface forever.

Thankfully we are not scorpions. As human beings, we have the power to change our beliefs, our thoughts, words, and actions.

Not doing our part to steward the earth responsibly contributes to our and the future generations demise. Our contributions to buying less, using less, especially plastic, re-purposing as well as re-cycling, buying from responsible companies and countries are just some of the positive contributions we make to our environmental world that supports our existence.

Not doing our part to change how we treat each other also contributes to most of the societal and economic problems that could be solved individually and collectively. Instead of ostracizing those struggling in our families, communities, nations, and globally, pulling them into the circle, not by force or manipulation, but by acceptance, seeking to understand, and aiding diminishes the need for government intervention and extra taxes because citizens are addressing needs at the grass roots level rather than the need for taxes beyond infrastructure needs.

Not doing our part to keep learning to enlarge our understanding about our differences, inhibits our willingness to accept people’s differences and therefore our compassion, instead forcing people to conform to the point that we foster mental and physical illnesses, plus addictions and even crime that further send people off balance and add more strain to our social structure, including increasing violence.

Not doing our part to live and let live, breeds the prejudice and hate that fuels everything from bullying to sexual abuse/assault, from caregiver abuse to domestic violence, from employee abuse to employer abuse, from leadership tyranny to financial abuse, from local violence and crime to terrorism and wars.

Not doing our part to help each individual discover and develop their unique blend of talents and potential in the end is comparable to the scorpion stinging and killing the frog because we poison, destroy, and even contribute to, or even kill the unique value each person, each life’s potential could add to the quality of our own lives.

For these reasons and more, we do not need to feel overwhelmed by the state of the world nor do we have to write off that what we could do as unimportant because the point is everyone matters as does what we choose to do, personally and together.

…

KAITLIN ANN TREPANIER

Specialist Writer Speaker Social Entrepreneur Founder and President

of Connecting The Dots With The Respect Principle

Smashwords interview @  www.smashwords.com

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January 2, 2020