Eyes wide . . .

An artifact of my first consulting gig is still among my treasured possessions.  The client group presented it to me on the last day. A poster, adorned with a larger than life image and a message that starts: “Learn to listen like a teddy bear, with your eyes wide open and your mouth sewn tight . . .”  Why Good Things Happen to Good People translates this into Look Again–and Look Truly and Deeply.  The message is about respect.

“requires us to look again, past first impressions and unconscious biases, to gaze deeply in order to understand another person’s history, struggles, life-journey, and perspectives.” How can you help bring more respect into our often biased, unfair world? Are there ways you can demonstrate more tolerance, civility, acceptance, and reverence for others? What is one way you can show respect to someone else today? How did you react to your respect quotient?

In a thumbs up/thumbs down world, where the value of people’s involvement the merit of their ideas are given short shrift, that’s far from the norm.  If the simple idea of pausing to reconsider, of reflecting and weighing and giving way to what’s different or unfamiliar could be a tidal change towards inclusion.  At its birth, the United States symbolically and tangibally captured the ideals of equality and tolerance.  Stephen Post confirms the way we nurture ourselves by personally living those ideals today.