Condemn Injustice

 

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never
be a time when we fail to protest.
- Elie Wiesel

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

If everyone howled at every injustice,
every act of barbarism, every act of unkindness,
then we would be taking the first step towards a real humanity.
- Nelson DeMille

Don't make the mistake of thinking that you have to
agree with people and their beliefs to defend them from injustice.
- Bryant H. McGill

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth
and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.
If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.
- William Faulkner

When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
-Steve Maraboli

If you are neutral in situations of injustice,
you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
- Desmond Tutu
            

Addressing the "real world" requires three actions - simultaneously...

A reader wrote: "Your words are so calm. But you have never addressed the real world.
I was beaten...what calm and enlighten words do you have to say to that.
Get with the real life world ...sir❗️"

My Reply...

Thank you very much for writing.

Addressing the "real world" requires three actions - simultaneously...

1) Recognize that whatever has happened in the past cannot be changed. Anger can't change the past. Revenge can't change the past. Acceptance and forgiveness are powerful tools in letting the past be the past, so you can focus on the present and the future.

Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it.
- English Proverb

Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.
- Alice Duer Miller

2) Have a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude is both a tool to make you happier in the present, and a tool from which to launch "real world" actions and success.

Positive thinking will let you do everything
better than negative thinking will.
- Zig Ziglar

3) Take action. Begin now. Begin again each day. Take action with calm focus, and with a well-thought-out plan, but take action, and persevere.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Attitude and action are both essential.
Attitude without action is mere pretense.
Action without attitude is merely frenzied motion.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

 

Anxious , Depressed, Job Not Inspiring?

Question from a reader: I feel low, anxious, depressed, job not inspiring, what should I do?

My reply:

1) Look for the high points in your job: co-workers? customers? whatever is uplifting.

2) Consider a different job or becoming self-employed. Those may or may not be viable options, but think seriously about it.

3) Look to get your true satisfaction from sources outside your job. Appreciate your family. Volunteer in your community. Help someone less fortunate than yourself - perhaps volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen.

As we work to create light for others,
we naturally light our own way.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Life's most persistent and urgent question is,
'What are you doing for others?'
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude.
- Maya Angelou

The best way to find yourself
is to lose yourself
in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater is our own sense of well-being.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The best cure for our own self-inflicted suffering
is often service to others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
      

Think a Kind Thought Today

There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this,
we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, think a kind thought about someone who you would otherwise hate, or believe to be evil, or to be an "enemy."

Whether in politics, international affairs, or your personal life, there is someone who you believe to be irredeemably bad. Today, think a kind thought about that person.

What is Your Dream

Question: I am not sure what you mean by "your dream." Is it something you literally dream when you are sleeping? Is it different from hope? Is there more to it than hope?

My Answer:

Your Dream is your vision for the future - how you want the future to be, and how you intend for it to become.

Your Dream is more than just a hope in two ways.
1. You take action every day to further your dream.
2. You sincerely believe that attaining your dream is possible.

Consider how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses the word Dream in this quote...

I have a dream that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't just "hope" for racial equality, he worked every day toward that goal, and believed in its reality.

May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My Voters Guide

Are you going to vote in the upcoming elections? How are you going to vote? What issues are central to your decisions? How will your political decisions and political activity affect your life - especially your relationships with your family, friends, and neighbors?

5. To address the last issue first, ensure that however strong your political opinions, please don't lose any friends over politics. If your mix of friends is anything like mine, almost half are avid Conservatives, almost half are avid Progressives, and only a few are undecided or have chosen to distance themselves from any involvement in the election process.

Whoever is elected, we still need to love, honor, and respect our family, friends, and neighbors.

I never considered a difference of opinion
in politics, in religion, in philosophy,
as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
- Thomas Jefferson

4. Life will go on for each of us after the election.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed

(and hence clamorous to be led to safety)

by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins,

all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

Success is not final, failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that counts.
- Winston Churchill

3. Remember that most of the people you know have already made up their minds. Reserve your political (and religious) conversations for those who value your thoughts and are open to new ideas - or who are just open to a friendly debate.


2. If you are one of the few who has not made a final decision, consider looking beyond single "hot button" issues, beyond your own self-interest, and beyond this year.

Plant trees for your great-grandchildren -
for future generations.
Create the legacy of a better world.
Leave this world a better place than you found it.
Literally planting trees for
your great-grandchildren is a wonderful idea,
but far more important...
use this symbolism - this imagery -
to represent the kind of legacy
you want to leave to future generations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

1. Please vote whenever there is an election. Your vote matters very much. Not only does your vote matter numerically, it matters that you are a full participant in your country's future.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Many Paths to Joy and Service

Question: The purpose of my life from childhood has been to study medicine and become a researcher. I have always gotten excellent grades, but I have been turned down for medical school. I feel like my life is over. What should I do?

My Answer:

I am very sorry that you are so troubled. Please, please take good care of yourself. Your life is important - value it and respect it.

I understand your life feels very difficult at this time. Nonetheless, you can choose to live a great life - a life of joy and a life of service.

I understand that it feels very important to you to attend medical school, but I ask you to look at your life from a wider perspective. Perhaps you will eventually attend medical school - and that would be wonderful. But there are many other ways for you to live a great life.

There are only two true values in life - your own joy, and being of service to others. These two are related in that one of the best ways to find your own joy is to be of real service to others.

Ask yourself why you want so much to attend medical school. What is your underlying goal in life? Medical school by itself cannot be your ultimate goal in life. It must be merely one stepping stone on the way to your true goal. So what is that true goal? If your true goal is to be of service to others by helping to cure disease, then medical school would be a great path, but it is not the only path. Suppose you spend your life as a laboratory assistant rather than as a graduate medical researcher? I realize that would not be your first choice, but couldn't you be of great service, and also live a joyful life.

It is far less important what your job title is, than that you approach your job with dedication and compassion. Consider these words by the great Martin Luther King Jr.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper,
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts
of heaven and earth will pause to say,
here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let me share a story...

Do you know whose hands actually performed the delicate work of the world's first heart transplant? No, not Dr. Christiaan Barnard, but his black laboratory assistant Hamilton Naki. At that time, Blacks were not allowed to attend medical school or be doctors in South Africa. Read the whole story here. Even if the story has been exaggerated, let it inspire you to do what you can with the opportunities available - as well as also continuing to look for higher-leverage opportunities.

Listen also to the words of Helen Keller (1880-1968) who overcame being both deaf and blind to become a famous author, lecturer, and activist for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and ending war.

When one door closes, another opens.
But often we look so long, so regretfully,
upon the closed door,
that we fail to see the one that is opened for us.
- Helen Keller

May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Play to win, but be a good loser.

Question: Dear Sir, I read your post on anger which stated that accept with gratitude what life throws at you, however, is it really possible?
Its easy to say that accept what life throws at you but how to really do this? When you take a task at hand it is with an expectation that you will come out with flying colors and of course you will feel terrible when things don't go your way. You had put in efforts so that things could go your way, you can extract from life what you want. Otherwise why would anyone put any efforts?

My Answer:

As they would say in children's sports, "Play to win, but be a good loser."

Team sports really do create quite a good mini-model of life. Some days you win. Some days you lose. If you don't accept today's loss with grace and courage, you never get to play (and win) tomorrow.

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.
- Vince Lombardi

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

It's one of life's great paradoxes ...

Accepting with gratitude whatever life throws at us is critical to happiness.

Yet without a goal and commitment, life lose much of its value.

The best we can do in the face of this paradox is to play to win, but be cheerful in defeat, and be ready to play again.

May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC on Sunday, October 16, 2011.

Watch a virtual tour of the memorial.



Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.


Watch the famous Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech.