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Today's
quotation:
People
talk about the middle of the road as though it were
unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the
gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be
compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight
D. Eisenhower
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Today's
Meditation:
I
miss compromise. In our society of today, it seems
to be a dead art, something from the past, especially in
the political and business worlds. Nowadays, the
only way that something should be done is my way, and if
you're not on board with my way, then I need to fight
against you to make sure that I get my way. This
approach guarantees that we don't learn from each other
any more, that we don't come up with solutions that are
acceptable to both of us. Instead, one of us is
going to be happy, while the other will feel anger,
frustration, and resentment.
Where
does this lack of compromise come from? Why are we
so unwilling to acknowledge that our way may not be the
only or the best way? Is it fear that people will
see us as being wrong if we let others contribute to what
we do? Is it arrogance? Is it that we feel
disdain for anyone who disagrees with us? Are we
afraid that another person's input will cause failure, and
that we'll be blamed? Most of us compromise all the
time over the little things-- which restaurant to eat at,
when to start the new project, how big the new desk will
be, which color to paint the living room.
When
we allow ourselves to listen closely to another person's
perspective and ideas, and then to try to incorporate
those ideas into our own, we learn an awful lot about
whatever it is that we're doing. Unfortunately, we
assign such an artificially high value to so much of what
we're doing that we think we need to control every aspect
of it, and that allowing someone who disagrees with us to
contribute to it would be a failure, pure and
simple. But it wouldn't be. Compromise says,
"I respect you, and I value your contribution, even
if I disagree with you, even if I see the world in ways
that are different than yours."
When
we finally recognize that no one's perspective is one
hundred percent accurate or right, then we'll also realize
that compromise between people is important if we're ever
going to develop stronger communities and societies.
Our unwillingness to acknowledge another person's
strengths and talents contributes only to the stress and
the strife, and our goal on this planet should be to
contribute to the unity and the love and the compassion.
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