Comfort & Convenience ...

This is a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. that has stirred something within me each & every time I have read it. It makes me think about how we treat those that are different than us and how we would react in a situation which would require us to make a choice of being amongst the majority because it's easier ... or to listen to your heart & your inner voice that is telling you this isn't right, there is another way and they are wrong.

One of the many "challenges & controversies" one could apply this to is bullying. The majority becomes the "comfort & convenience" with a negative connotation and the minority becomes the "challenge & controversy" with a positive connotation.

In high school, I took a leadership class. I don't remember the original comment, who it was or who it was about, but I remember one day how disappointed our teacher was to overhear a put-down in our "Leadership" class. Very calmly, but with tears in her eyes she said something along the lines of this: Whenever you are about to make fun of someone, remember this one thing. No matter what they look like or what they do, they are somebody's baby. They have a mother who loves them more than anything in this world.

She was trying to get us to look at that same person from another point of view ... one that would hurt so deeply if they knew, one that looks at that same person you are wanting to put down [cause physical or emotional harm] & only sees the greatest joy in their life, the most beautiful, most flawless person in the world. Her baby. What would it do to her?

It is a lesson that I never forgot ... and have tried to use myself and pass along. I can never say it aloud without tears, which tells me how powerful the words are. I can tell you, having been on both sides of it now, hurtful words and laughs at someone else's expense do leave scars on a mother's heart. And a father's for that matter.

It also makes the acts of kindness you see from the friends or siblings that chose "challenge and controversy" over "comfort and convenience", that much sweeter.