“The ultimate goal of the haters of the good is not to bring others up to the level of the most able (which is impossible) but to bring down the able to the level of the less able—to obliterate their achievement, to destroy their reward, to make them unable to function above the level of mediocrity, to punish them, and, above all, to make them feel unearned guilt for their own virtues.”
-Edwin A. Locke, in his book The Prime Movers (2000)
This quote seemed fitting this week, amid the riots and insanity. We can focus on the wrong thing and ram into a tree or highway divider, or we can focus on the right things.
This is who we are.
- A friend bringing steaming soup for your head cold
- A father practicing softball pitches with his daughter every afternoon
- A neighbor sharing her fresh-baked cinnamon rolls
- Smiling dog-owners and parents with kids walking around the neighborhood
- People patronizing their local restaurant every week to help it stay in business
- A family organizing birthday car parades to cheer people up during the shutdown
Others choose to do and say bad things because they are dark and miserable, and misery loves company. Avoid those people and their black hole energy. Who needs it?
We choose light.
We choose God.
And we choose each other.
Lighten the load
How do we fight haters? Well, how do you float something with weights attached to it?
Cut the weight. Block their accounts. Don’t read their rubbish. Don’t listen to their shouts. Throw out the rubbish and continue upward.
We see what we focus on. Focus on what’s right and what’s good, and more will come.
Racists crying “Wolf!”
You are not racist. I am not racist. Neither of us know any racists. We represent America.
The only racists are those who talk non-stop about race while ignoring the person inside. They ignore his experience, intelligence, maturity, and abilities. They ignore the person and look only at skin.
I feel sad for them. People are interesting. Everyone has a story. And haters trying to draw everyone into their fetid narrative are missing it.
Serendipity
They are missing the miraculous juxtaposition of each of us here, in our lives, at this place and time. We could have been alive at any other time in any other country. But we are here, now, among our loved ones and countrymen. Don’t you want to know why?
Leave the haters behind. They don’t know you, and they don’t want to either. We can’t save them. They must choose to change their focus.
Featured image by Yuri_B on Pixabay.
Thought Ripples by Wendi 
Effort is staying focused. We should all have a goal with rules, boundaries and limitations (Dog Whisperer). Without, there is chaos, lawlessness, destruction, deterioration of existence, aimlessness, uselessness, etc. Like a hater. Whether goal is daily, weekly or longer, it provides a beginning, middle, ending, meaning, purpose, satisfaction, etc. Disregarding haters is key, though they exist. Like driving, without paying attention to road leads to erratic driving, accident, complications. Blame hater? But hater only distraction, not driver. Focus.
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