Respond With Love, Whenever Possible (and it’s always possible)
If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness. – Lao Tzu
I’ve heard that hurt people hurt people.
While it’s not anyone’s responsibility to help everyone, we all have some capacity for empathy and kindness.
Maybe when someone slights you, or makes a snarky comment, or whatever, you respond with kindness?
Ask yourself: what would the Buddha do here, or Jesus, or whoever works for you?
The neat thing is, when you do that you’re not “buying into” that person’s dysfunction. You’re staying above the fray and bringing love to the situation.
We can all agree that most situations could use a bit more love.
As Lao Tzu says above, don’t cast away the person (after all, you’re just like him/her in SO many ways . . . ), cast away the wickedness.
Imagine someone “hands” you some “badness.”
Receive it, and immediately cast it aside, do not take it on.
Instead, hand the person back some “goodness,” some love.
They may not appreciate it, at the time, or ever, but you can rest comfortably in the knowledge that when it mattered, you responded in the better way.