What Goes Around...

I'm a firm believer that what goes around, eventually comes around. What you reap, you sow. If you are kind, you will find kindness coming back to you, and if you are rude, the same principle applies. Once in a while it's important to remind ourselves of this, and see it working as it should, and I find that ebb and flow deeply satisfying.

Yesterday was a day filled with surprises. Some good, and some upsetting, and eventually it all settled into a peaceful outcome that felt as poetic as any good movie ending. Without any forethought or scheming on my part, a thorny situation was resolved neatly and satisfactorily for everyone who was involved, and that's when I knew there was a higher principle at work. If I had tried to engineer this conclusion, it would never have happened the way it did, and it was fun to just sit back and watch it all unfold.

After a recent difficult experience filled with ups and downs and painfully frustrating moments where I felt like I was banging my head against a stone wall, it was liberating to watch a conflict resolution process that was simple, and clean-cut, and respectful all around. A problem was identified, then discussed reasonably, and decisions were made to correct the situation. It was the kind of communication and resolution that I've dreamed about but didn't know was possible to achieve within an organization, and I'm as proud as can be to have been a small cog in this wheel that turned so efficiently.

It was like an ice cold glass of water on a sweltering day, with perfect beads of condensation forming on the sides of the glass, utterly refreshing as you bring it to your lips. To be treated with respect and dignity is a balm to the soul, a salve to the heart, and nourishing food to a starving body. I realized all over again that I must continue to treat people the way I wish to be treated, at all times, regardless of how the situation turns out, because when it all works like it should, it is so unbelievably satisfying.

I'm grateful to God for bringing this situation about in such a sweet and refreshing way. It has restored my faith in people where it had been stomped on and broken. There are people who are so good and so kind and so decent that it will take your breath away. I don't have to worry about the people who don't treat me well. I can smile, and be polite, and walk away, especially since I've been reminded that often on the other side of the street, if I will open my eyes to look, I can find people who will treat me the way I was treated yesterday. Those are the people I want all around me, for they understand that what goes around, comes around, and we can dare to build a world where we value and respect each other, and communicate accordingly.