What the World Needs Now
Posted: Saturday, December 03, 2011
by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com
There is a popular song with the repeated refrain:
“What the world needs now Is love, sweet love.Of course, this simplifies what is really sage advice to our countless populace on Planet Earth. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone “hippie, yuppie” or anything else. I’ve lived long enough to understand that any extreme is not ideal. What I am saying is that if people concerned themselves with kindness, warm feelings, respect and the liking of neighbor – meaning the human race in general – then we’d have the proper emotions.
It's the only thing that there's just too little of.
What the world needs now Is love, sweet love.
No, not just for some but for everyone.”
This is sort of what I am getting at. I’m not saying that suddenly you should love your neighbor – I'm saying that it's in our ability to develop kinder likeable feelings for others by reinforcing positive thought. Possibly the main process is to change our way of thinking about everyone around us. It becomes rather obvious that we should approach our views with a positive angle.
"Think positive" has never been more critical than now. View people that you meet or run into or have even a casual interaction with on any particular day as folks that have a lot to share and offer to us. Think about the person and consider saying something nice. Smile. If you're going through a door, smile and look directly at them as you hold the door so they can also get through. Step aside and let an older person step ahead of you in a grocery line. If the person across an aisle drops something, pick it up, smile and give it to them.
"Say something pleasant" is an easy task. Everyone has something nice - maybe the woman is wearing a spectacular purse. Perhaps the gentleman is carrying a cute kid and you smile at the child and say, "What a cutie."
Small talk about nothing much at all, just to share a short positive moment with another human. Doing this with a friendly and pleasant smile will go farther than you'll ever know.
Sometimes I play this game with myself when I'm out or if I have phone calls to make that I'd rather put off. I set about everything I do with good thoughts, making up my mind that I'm going to be especially happy today. I put on my smiley face and head out. Invariably it rubs off on everyone. Young and old, male and female - practically everyone reacts according to plan. If a child is causing a ruccus in the store, or if a mother is blocking my path in an aisle, or if a car sneaks ahead of me at the red light, whatever - I try to keep my wits about me and think happy. I have a good time, and when I arrive home, I'm in a terrific mood.
So why exactly do I think "love" is what the world needs now? Simply put, and using the word love as an exaggeration of "like," we will be able to put aside some grievances, problems, offenses, and replace them with positive vibes and thoughts. Practiced often enough, these good thoughts become habits and keep us refreshed and happy. If we are happy within ourselves, we share it with everyone around us. It's catchy. Give everyone a dose of your "happy." Soon it will grow within others. The more people can adopt a kinder and more gentle demeaner in this world of rushing, griping, and thinking selfishly, then more good vibes can be shared.
Funny thing about this article. I know that a positive and upbeat attitude toward strangers in a safe setting gets a like reaction back nearly 100% of the time. I've challenged my granddaughter about this already. We're at the checkout, and the checkout person is preoccupied and not overly customer-service oriented. I'll find something simple to say such as, "Thanks for getting us through your line so quickly," or, "I'm so happy that you double bagged the jars." Whatever I do say, I look squarely at the person and say something nice with a smile. Never fails, it works like a charm. My granddaughter is amazed.
I realize I'm not expressing this quite as I wanted - But I think I got the gist of it on paper. My point is to make others pleased that I brushed briefly into their life, I was glad that I did, and I am happy about it. Then all I can hope is that they feel the same way and will share the good feeling.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)If "Love" is that which the world needs now, then it would cancel out "Respect", which the world today has an enormous lack of. From the top of the chain to the very bottom of society, we look for the boosts in life where someone turns and says: "Thank you" when you hold a door open for them to pass through. If you love someone, you would do this automatically.
I enjoyed reading your article, though in other realms of the world we are running low of "Respect" whereas "Love" is genuinely topped up to a mass weight that unbalances the rest of the needs to which the Human Race can replenish some stability. That is my opinion and in no way reflects on your article. Thank you for sharing and have a great Holiday season.To tell the whole story about this piece, a hard-fought one to write and published almost against my own better judgment since I don't consider it remotely as good as it could be, I struggled with it. Only when I ran out of time did I actually get it done. Thing is, I wanted to write it differently. I also hesitated about respect and your suggest is spot on. The "love" comment about someone holding the door open is a frequent occurrence to be sure, but it's also a degraded action even between loving couples. I've observed it too often lately. Common courtesies are become more and more nondescript. I'm seeing a real breakdown. Simple stuff like removing a hat in a restaurant, pulling aside a chair, pushing a chair in, stepping aside to allow someone to pass, walking directly in front of people in aisles, running a cart into an ankle and not saying "sorry," speaking in a theater, crude comments - my list is way too endless and annoying. Never mind what happens on the road while people are driving a potential killing machine. People are slipping. I decided to use the love angle because it's a feeling we start with when we are babies. Nurtured correctly or worked on if we have a poor attitude could go a long way to bring back respect for others. I'm not suggesting kissy-kissy. Like I said, I didn't really develop this article enough. I really appreciate your suggestion and reasoning and, most of all, your kind support. Thanks so much MKDS!
Sure could have used you yesterday...lolJust give me a yell. I'll do what I can, if I can, and if you let me know Meanwhile, love your support - you know that right!!!
I am pleased to have met your controlled, enforced countenance (I, too , have a drawer full of ready-wear, paste-on smiles ) glad that our graphs, however remotely intersecting, didn't cross earlier, when the 'lid was off your Id'!!
affection,
PaulHi Paul. So glad you read. Not my best but the idea works for me. I like to show my kids and grandkids that you can be nice, even friendly, or just plain kind without expending anything more than a smile. I like to say one small step leads to bigger and better ones. So if I make someone smile and then they make someone smile, it's already spreading. Then add Joel's good advice about laughing heartily, things will at least feel a lot better for us and them, too.
You sound like you have a wicked sense of humor. I mean that "wicked" in only flattering terms by the way. Fact is we did meet, remotely, and I'm glad for it.
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