it seems the smarter we get about technology the dumber we get about relationships. we live in a society where loneliness, depression and suicide areon the rise. we seem to be treating each other worse. the guiding moral principlehere isn’t complicated: try to treat other people as if they possessed precioushearts and infinite souls. everything else will follow.
david brooks wrote those words in an article called “the power of human touch” published in the new york times on 19 january 2018.
as 2018 draws to a close i am drawn to this quote published in january. i’m not sure we have made the necessary changes in the space of this year to deal with loneliness, depression and suicide. and the message is still the same.i would tweak brooks’s words a bit…treat other people’s precious hearts and infinite souls with mercy and kindness, with open-heartedness and caring. people, all of us, already possess precious hearts and infinite souls. there is no “as if” about it.some of those hearts and souls might be damaged, almost beyond recognition. some may be armoured and defended so that they have become inaccessible and invisible.
they may be crying out in pain. others may have been so badly broken they might refuse to open again.and yet, those hearts and souls can ultimately be touched by kindness, gentleness, mercy and caring. from there everything else will follow. conversations can flow. healing might begin. smiles may emerge where only aching existed before. love might again be found.
i am not usually one to make new year’s resolutions. if i were to do so for 2019 it would be this: treat everyone i encounter with the awareness of her/his precious heart and infinite soul.everything else will follow.