A few nights ago, I was talking to a friend about how the weather was turning out to be. It rained lightly that afternoon and we were both excited for the chill, gloomy weather that meant sweater weather. Ironically, the rain that evening was pouring heavily. The heavy rainfall brought thunder and lightning that I have not experienced for quite some time.
I asked my friend it was raining at her place as well. She said that it wasn't but that she could hear the thunder. She then raised up an interesting point that really struck me. My friend wonder how could it be peaceful yet stormy at the same time? While we both knew the scientific explanation behind that question, the thought of two conflicting situations happening at the same time boggled our minds.
I'm reminded of an English class I had in my second year of high school. For that session, we were tasked to speak in front of the class and give a speech about a certain topic. One of my classmates spoke about our attitude towards the rainy season. He spoke about how happy students would be when there would be heavy rainfall because it meant classes would be suspended. He pointed out that when we hope for enough rain for classes to be suspended, we forget to think about those who could be greatly affected by the pouring rain. We ignore the possibility that the same rain we hope and pray for could flood someone's house away or destroy the year's harvest for a family's business.
I'm reminded of an English class I had in my second year of high school. For that session, we were tasked to speak in front of the class and give a speech about a certain topic. One of my classmates spoke about our attitude towards the rainy season. He spoke about how happy students would be when there would be heavy rainfall because it meant classes would be suspended. He pointed out that when we hope for enough rain for classes to be suspended, we forget to think about those who could be greatly affected by the pouring rain. We ignore the possibility that the same rain we hope and pray for could flood someone's house away or destroy the year's harvest for a family's business.
As he continued to expound on the topic, I felt guilt in my heart. During that time, our school had several class suspensions due to the rainy season, so hearing that speech really struck a chord in me. The speech wasn't a judgement that meant to insult or hurt our feelings; it was a wake-up call. It meant to bring light to the reality that we care more about ourselves and less about others. That we have become people who compromise the safety of others for the sake of our own. People who bring others down so that they can feel good about themselves. People who steal, kill, gossip, and cheat other people for our own well-being. People who are much more willing to take than to give. To put it simply, we have become selfish people.
Society teaches us to love ourselves - and while that's a great thing, loving ourselves at the expense of other people is not love; it's selfishness. Blowing away the leaves that fall in our yard to clean the ground up isn't wrong - but to do so early in the morning while our neighbours are still asleep is. Loving others by keeping them in our thoughts or taking their well-being into consideration while we do the same for ourselves is possible.
Remembering that speech got me thinking about how we are, and how I am today. Several questions filled my head and I found myself reflecting on them. The questions were very helpful while I was reevaluating myself which is why I wanted to share these questions with you, my readers.
2. Do I bring other people down so that I can feel comfortable (with myself, where I am, what I am doing, etc.)? Do I do it intentionally or unintentionally?
3. Do I hope for the best for myself even when I know that it will be at the cost of other people?
4. Do I act without thinking of the outcome my actions might bring? Do I decide rashly? Do I speak without filtering my words or thinking about the message I am trying to get across?
5. Do I feel at peace when I know that other people are suffering/hurting/not okay?
6. Do I only think about myself?
7. Do I act out of love?
I would like to end this post with an encouragement to all my readers: if you find yourself guilty of being selfish like I was, remember that there is always room for improvement. No one is stuck in one certain state forever, after all. Moving on from this attitude and lifestyle is possible. The only question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to let God change me?
This post was quite long and heavy but I hope you enjoyed reading. I have been very reflective lately so expect a lot of similar posts. God impressed upon my heart to talk about this on my blog and it has been a blessing writing this. I hope you picked something up while reading this blog post and that you are encouraged more than discouraged because there is hope in God in spite of our failures.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, Yumi Paras, who helped me with this post. Yumi is an amazing writer who I look up to. She is a blogger so the link to her blog will be below. Without your help, advice, and friendship, I'd be a mess. I appreciate you!
This post is getting even longer so I will stop here. I will see you soon and that is all for now!
Until Next Time!
~ Luis ~
Links:
Yumi's Blog: https://therenewed52project.wordpress.com/
Yumi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/yumiisms
Previous Post: Emoji Tag - One Year Later
Society teaches us to love ourselves - and while that's a great thing, loving ourselves at the expense of other people is not love; it's selfishness. Blowing away the leaves that fall in our yard to clean the ground up isn't wrong - but to do so early in the morning while our neighbours are still asleep is. Loving others by keeping them in our thoughts or taking their well-being into consideration while we do the same for ourselves is possible.
Remembering that speech got me thinking about how we are, and how I am today. Several questions filled my head and I found myself reflecting on them. The questions were very helpful while I was reevaluating myself which is why I wanted to share these questions with you, my readers.
Questions:
1. Do I ignore or disregard the well-being of other people for the sake of my own? Do I do it intentionally or unintentionally?2. Do I bring other people down so that I can feel comfortable (with myself, where I am, what I am doing, etc.)? Do I do it intentionally or unintentionally?
3. Do I hope for the best for myself even when I know that it will be at the cost of other people?
4. Do I act without thinking of the outcome my actions might bring? Do I decide rashly? Do I speak without filtering my words or thinking about the message I am trying to get across?
5. Do I feel at peace when I know that other people are suffering/hurting/not okay?
6. Do I only think about myself?
7. Do I act out of love?
I would like to end this post with an encouragement to all my readers: if you find yourself guilty of being selfish like I was, remember that there is always room for improvement. No one is stuck in one certain state forever, after all. Moving on from this attitude and lifestyle is possible. The only question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to let God change me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post was quite long and heavy but I hope you enjoyed reading. I have been very reflective lately so expect a lot of similar posts. God impressed upon my heart to talk about this on my blog and it has been a blessing writing this. I hope you picked something up while reading this blog post and that you are encouraged more than discouraged because there is hope in God in spite of our failures.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, Yumi Paras, who helped me with this post. Yumi is an amazing writer who I look up to. She is a blogger so the link to her blog will be below. Without your help, advice, and friendship, I'd be a mess. I appreciate you!
This post is getting even longer so I will stop here. I will see you soon and that is all for now!
Until Next Time!
~ Luis ~
Links:
Yumi's Blog: https://therenewed52project.wordpress.com/
Yumi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/yumiisms
Previous Post: Emoji Tag - One Year Later
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