Thursday, May 05, 2005

Success, Progress, and Compassion

Too many people today forget about the common man. We have forgotten what it means to be human, what it means to make mistakes and to love and understand and have compassion. We feel that in order to succeed in life we have to step on the heads of others, pushing them down in our climb to get to the top. "Only in domination," we seem to say, "be it political or economical, can we truly succeed."
But that's not the way it has to be. That's not the way it was meant to be.
I've always found it unbelievable that some people who have climbed the ladder from humble beginnings forget where they came from. I could understand, perhaps, why a person born rich would try to dominate those around him or her, because of a lack of experience. But what about the people who had to work hard to get where they stand, the ones who had to put lots of hard work and toil and labor into their climb. How can they, with good conscience, "dominate" those around them, taking advantage of whoever they can?

We need to know how to get along with people. We need to learn how to be nice again, how to smile politely and say "It's good to see you again" and, what's more, actually mean it. Too many times we lose focus, we lose touch of the "common man," it's all about money and power and not about making a difference. Sure, companies will write a list of values, or a company goal, and these usually involve "making a difference" or "customer satisfaction" - but how many companies view these as an end and a goal in and of themselves, instead of a stepping stone to greater profit?
We are losing touch with humanity, we are losing touch with the population of the world.

Life is easier and more bearable when people are viewed as people instead of merely another way to get what you want. People have their own unique abilities, and it's only by recognizing them for who they are that we can really begin to appreciate who we are.
Don't forget the common man. Don't forget the population of the world. It's a beautiful place; we have to start actually living in it again sometime...

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