Before I come to write my post in the mornings, I have taken the time, as a part of my morning routine, to read many things that give me cause for pause and reflection. Sometimes these thoughts become the subject of my posts, sometimes there are other more pressing issues that engage my attention. Today, I read an article about embracing sobriety. The article was looking at the spiritual significance of abstaining from alcohol. I wanted to extend the definition of sobriety beyond the obvious substances. I was thinking about how things which we do not outwardly view as harmful have the capability to draw us away from developing our spiritual selves, essentially away from God. There are so many things that I can think of in my own life that have this effect; food, social media, Netflix and other entertainment centred outlets pumping content into our world, anger, prejudice, accumulating material wealth - the list is in-exhaustive. These things may seem innocuous, at first blush, to many of us who may not have suffered from the effects of being addicted to them or who are unaware that they even are addicted, but for those of us who, because of the vast complexity of human nature, are susceptible to taking these seemingly innocent activities and suffer from the effects of addiction, it can be devastating and painful. Do we just ignore this suffering because it is not "mainstream", does not generate a preponderance of evidence in support of or do we instead honour and value one another, in offering assistance and help to enable each other to live with dignity? This is how respect is speaking to me today. Many opinions abound regarding what is right and wrong and I can get caught up in soundbites and a thought thinker's perspective that cannot be applied to the entirety of humanity with a broad stroked brush. Yesterday, I had a conversation about issues of race and the manner in which the person referred to the situation caused a strong negative reaction in me. I am sensitive to comments and manners of expression that some people use and I settled myself by asking questions as to their intention in using certain words. They had no idea of the effect of their words on me and I have to embrace the fact that those who have had little to no exposure with people of colour are learning about friendship. What falls in my lap to do is to be courteous and loving in my speech, to seek to build peace and love between us and not use our differences in speech as a cause to divide us. How easily this comes about daily in many of my interactions where my prejudices insidiously infiltrate my speech and actions before I have had time to even think. I am practicing respect in calling to mind that we are all perfectly imperfect in every way.
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