Jonathots Daily Blog
(4110)
It is a breathtakingly simple three-step process:
I. Like. You.
I, like you.
I like you.
Although not complex, it seems to profoundly stump the consciousness of the human race.
It begins with I.
In other words, me. I will stop putting the focus and the blinding light on the faults of others and center it on my own foolish foibles.
I will remove the sacs filled with venom so that when I become grouchy and bite someone, I don’t have to accidentally poison them.
I will become the “I” that needs to learn what I need to know, and only I need to know, in order to accomplish what I must do.
This will lend itself to becoming a person who can “like” things once again.
I have stopped doing so. In favor of coming across with wit, I have transformed myself into a cynical snoot, thinking that intelligence is better expressed through critique. I have refused to appreciate the little blessings that have come my way.
But since I have taken the time to acknowledge what I am and what I need to do, I can ease up my insecurity and start to like things again.
Which brings me to You.
You have always been one of my problems—perhaps my only calamity—because I view you as competition and resent the hell out of you using up the oxygen in the room that I could be hoarding in reserve.
I am twice as critical of you than I am me.
I am ten times more judgmental of your pratfalls than my huge stumblings.
But if I will take the time to find out who I am and not be afraid of admitting that I am lacking in some areas, then the possibility for liking things will cheer my soul and make me much more pleasant to be around—so I will be able to store up a measure of grace for when I find myself dealing with you.
With Step One in place, I am ready for Stage Two:
I, like you.
Yes, I look for similarities between you and me—your kind and my kind—my race and your race. I want to stop discussing your culture and my culture and see if we can discover the human culture.
And thirdly, I believe I will arrive at a position where I can say—hopefully:
I like you.
Perhaps God was too optimistic to think we could love our neighbor. But maybe we are able, after we’ve taken stock of our own weakness, to like things again, offering more room for one another.
Then negotiation, reasoning, conversation and even arguments could be well-oiled with compassion, commonality and gladness.
There are nearly eight-and-a-half billion people in this world. It would not be necessary to get all of them to follow this three-step process. Even if we had one million people with hearts of good cheer, to pursue:
I. Like. You.
I, like you.
I like you.
Well, if we could just get a million, the light that would shine would be so brilliant that another ten million would want to imitate the success…
Of course, offering their own name for it.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this inspirational opportunity
Subscribe to Jonathan’s Weekly Podcast
Jonathots Daily Blog 