“Be careful what you wish for. You’re about to see how horrible the world is.”
Those are the words Jill Biden said to Doug Emhoff last summer, just after his wife accepted the nomination as the Democratic candidate for president.
It’s not just a Jill Biden view. We live through a constant rumbling of comments like, “What is this world coming to? The devil is gaining ground. I fear for the future,” and so on.
These assertions make my skin sting. You and I are surrounded by hearts beating with kindness, generosity, and love. I see people making meals for sick friends, showing up to celebrate or grieve with neighbors, sacrificing their time, and giving away their money to help others know they are not alone.
My friend Sandy gets up every day, and she works. Does she have a job? Nope. She invests herself in volunteering for countless non-profits and figuring out ways to support her friends’ dreams. She has made that her life. She is a woman who could spend her days in salons, playing tennis, and brunching over mimosas and gossip. But she chooses to invest her gift of time in the needs of others.
But people like Sandy don’t make the news. Packing lunches for the hungry and thrift shopping for disabled veterans don’t entertain us enough. So we keep watching as lost souls rape and pillage for drugs, deranged menaces use guns to silence the joyful, dictators abuse power, and corporate greed grinds down access to nutrition and a living wage.
We should be choosy about what we feed our brains. How we fuel our minds is much like how we fuel our bodies. It directly impacts how we experience this one ride through life.
Maybe you’ve heard the Cherokee fable about the boy whose grandfather explains the battle of the two wolves at war inside each of us. The good wolf’s ammunition is joy, peace, love, hope, and truth, while the evil wolf fights with anger, envy, arrogance, greed, and lies. The boy considers this internal battle and asks, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
In a calm, assured voice, the old Cherokee replies, “The one you feed.”
That is the best-known version of the fable. But upon more research, the original story did not end so simply. The grandfather went on to explain that we cannot be blind to evil. We must see it in order to counter it.
In other words:
Love can dissolve hate.
Truth can stop lies.
Compassion can ease fear.
Kindness can eradicate cruelty.
Generosity can diffuse greed.
One afternoon over lunch, I asked Sandy about her motivation. I wanted to know what it is about her that makes her so devoted and generous to tending to the needs of others. And so, you know me, I asked her, “Sandy, why do you do it?”
She paused her fork only momentarily, smiled and said, “Because I can.”
Sandy reminds me that we can and should see the darkness in the world. Let’s face it and feed it with generosity, kindness, compassion, truth, and love.
Let’s see who wins.
I hope this Sunday Story made you smile, laugh, and think about how we can change the world.
With love and cheers,
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