Our Actions reveal our Cruelty and our Charity

We have words and we have actions. Humans are pretty good at using words. We can master words for our own purposes. We can shape them. We can manipulate them. We can make them do all sorts of things. We can make them appear to be one thing, while they cover up something else. We can say one thing with words, while we do something else that completely contradicts the words that we just spoke. We know that the words can be empty.

But actions are much more difficult because we’re wired so we become uncomfortable when our actions contradict the core of who we really are. In fact, we won’t act counter to who we really are. That’s why if you really want to know what someone really believes, watch them, don’t bother to listen to them. They will tell you all sorts of things. But words can be manipulated. It’s the actions that can’t.

If you want to know what people really believe, pay attention to the what they do. Watch how they treat others.

It’s not an all or nothing type of thing of course. But there is a spectrum that we are all on. At one end of the spectrum is cruelty and the other is charity. Cruelty can be defined as action with intent to cause pain and suffering of others. Charity can be defined as action with intent to ease pain and suffering of others. Those are simple definitions, but for our purposes here, they work. Throughout life, we move back and forth along this spectrum, sliding along it. It’s a slippery spectrum. Our words slide along it as well and it’s a beautiful…