“When given a choice between kindness and being right, choose kindness.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

Back in October, when I was speaking at the Northland Bioneers Conference, I had the opportunity to listen to Paul Hawken (author of Ecology of Commerce). He humbled me and inspired me. Paul Hawken is an amazingly peaceful, exceedingly gentle, and powerful human presence. Listening to Paul was like sitting in the presence of the Dali Lama. The room was quiet and he had our wrapped attention.

He spoke of this movement that we are all a part of. How we have all been entrenched in our camps of “Social Justice”, “Environmentalism”, “Green”, “Orange”, “Brown”, etc. That this movement is so much larger than that. “There is no green movement without a black, brown and copper colored movement.” He said that the movement we are all in is one of ending suffering for all. That we must realize that we are all part of the same movement and that until we do we will be fragmented and ineffectual. However when we come together and the environmentalist feels the pain of the inner city youth and the when the inner city youth feels the pain of the forest being logged - then we’ll be united.

He followed this message with an equally powerful one.

” ‘There comes a time’ when this must stop. (evoking MLK’s classic phrase) We can not disparage, ridicule, or belittle others anymore.”
He was referring to the inner rivalries between the different groups within our movement. However, I found it land deeply and personally. For several years now I have taken the stand that sarcasm is sanction verbal violence and I don’t want it in my life. When I heard these words from Paul I was ashamed. I had been troubled by a letter I had written to a friend earlier that day and now I knew why. Most would never have noticed it and even the friend to whom I was writing hadn’t noticed it either. It is because it so prevalent pervasive in our society.

I had let sarcasm into the reply. The sarcasm was a way of belittling her, which was completely unnecessary other than to stroke my ego. I knew I was in trouble with myself and even toned it down so it was sweetly subtle, but deep down I wanted to be RIGHT. That was about me not her. In my kindness of a response I chose to be RIGHT too and thus negated the kindness.

Paul’s comments are embedded in my conscious mind.
So when I came across an email today
“When given a choice between kindness and being right, choose kindness.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

I knew I had to share it.

Yours in spirit and in friendship