W.W.M.T.D. ? (What would Mother Teresa do?)

“Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world.  Let us use love and compassion.  Peace begins with a smile.”  Mother Teresa

I’m a pretty spiritual person.  I believe that we are in the midst, and part of, an energy that creates and loves.  I believe this energy connects us to each other.  I believe there are some strange things out there, only because I’ve seen some strange things.  I like to think I’m skeptical, but I’m also open to the possibilities that things are not what they seem.  After all, once upon a time, the majority of the “thinking” world believed the world was flat, because no facts (at that time) showed otherwise.  And remember when “fat free” was considered healthy?  (That was just funny!)

I like to preach about compassion and understanding.  We’re not all going to think the same, or believe the same way, and compassion and understanding help us to bridge those differences.

Recently I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of hatred being spread around the media and internet, in particular, Facebook.  We are exposed to angry political debates, and war between not only countries, but individual religious (and non-religious) groups.

I think it’s pretty sad when the only common ground groups seem to share is hatred.

Recently I was sitting at a stop sign by a local church, and I witnessed one of its members pull out into traffic.  Someone honked at them, so they gave them the finger.  I laughed so hard at this picture and thought about asking them if that’s what Jesus would have done.

Later on, one of my friends told me this was because religious people were stupid.  But he didn’t stop there, he went on to tell me that anyone who could believe there was “anything” out there was just stupid.

I remember being more shocked that this person, someone whom I called “friend,” could call something so important to me “stupid.”  Especially when I felt I was pretty tolerant when he rambled on for hours about things that didn’t really interest me.

If we’re going to survive each other, we need compassion.  I was able to have compassion for my friend (after telling him nicely that I thought he was being a butt-head), because that’s just what I need to do.

He apologized.  So I guess my friendship is more important than the fact that it bugs him that I think I see spirits.

This morning I had a visit from Mother Teresa.  She said “Love them anyway.”

No matter what is going around on Facebook, or at lunch with our family, or friends, we always have the option to act with compassion rather than react with hate.  We can say we want world peace, but until we act as if we want it, it will never happen.

“Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at at all.  Do it for peace.”  Mother Teresa