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Build a Better World

Choose to Help Build a Better World

When you choose to show respect to all people, you in fact are choosing to help make this world a better place. With every good word you speak, with every good choice you make, and with every good action you take, you are making this world a better and brighter place to live.

Choose A Lifestyle Of Respect

Rather than being judgmental, choose to be tolerant.

Rather than being critical, choose to be accepting.

Rather than being disagreeable, choose to be understanding.

Rather than being angry, choose to be patient.

Rather than being bitter, choose to be forgiving.

Rather than being disparaging, choose to be encouraging.

Rather than being conceited, choose to be humble.

Rather than being offensive, choose to be courteous.

Rather than being rude, choose to be polite.

Rather than being harsh, choose to be kind.

Choose a lifestyle of respect. Choose to be respectful to all people.

Choose to be respectful at all times. Choose to be respectful in all ways.

R--E--S--P--E--C--T

R ~ Recognize and appreciate the divine dignity that every human being possesses.

E ~ Embrace the wonderful differences and diversity among all people, and also

make the effort to understand the many similarities we all share.

S ~ Smile and say hello to people in passing, reach out to others, and lend a helping

hand whenever you can.

P ~ Practice patience, understanding, and forgiveness toward others…even when

you don’t feel like it… especially when you don’t feel like it.

E ~ Educate yourself about other people’s cultures, ethnicities, religions, and

backgrounds.

C ~ Care for and about others by showing genuine concern and consideration

at all times.

T ~ Treat people the way that you, yourself, would always want to be treated;

and treat everyone you meet as if they were the most important person

in the world at that time.

Make respect an attitude.

Make being respectful a way of life.

Some Questions To Consider

Is a school better when its students and teachers show mutual respect to each other?

Is a team better when its players and coaches all show mutual respect for one another?

Is a neighborhood better when its members show mutual respect to each other?

Is a society better when its people show mutual respect for one another?

~ If “Yes” is the answer to each of these questions, then shouldn’t we all do more

to show respect to one another and to treat each other with respect?

Let us always strive to treat one another with respect. By being tolerant, civil, and respectful to all people at all times, we make the world a better and more pleasant place. By treating others the way that we, ourselves, would want to be treated, we will make this wonderful world of ours a much more peaceful and enjoyable place in which to live.

“Show proper respect to everyone”

~ 1 Peter 2:17 (from the Christian Faith Tradition)

The Respect Rules ~ A Simple Set of Instructions

+ Treat all people with respect.

+ Be positive and encouraging toward others. Lift people up; don’t put people down.

+ Work to resolve conflicts while being respectful.

+ Treat everyone as if they were a member of your own family.

+ Treat all people, at all times, the way that you would always want to be treated.

“All that we call ethics simply spring from

the one great principle of non-injury and doing good.

Don’t injure any, do good to all that you can …

and that is all the morality and ethics there is.”

~ An idea taken from the Jainis Faith Tradition

Go Beyond Tolerance

We should not only tolerate each other,

but we should seek to learn about and appreciate one another as well.

We should not merely try to coexist,

but we should understand and respect one another as well.

We should not be satisfied with simply putting up with each other,

but we should seek to enjoy and value one another’s company in this world.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

~ Paul the Apostle: Romans 12:18

(from the Christian Faith Tradition)

Go Beyond Respect

We should begin with tolerance, but then we should go beyond it to respect.

We should continue with respect, but we should not stop there.

We should go beyond respect and strive for kindness.

We should go beyond respect and aim for compassion.

Be Tolerant. Be Respectful. Be Kind.

Be Compassionate.

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

~ The Dalai Lama

Respect Has No Borders, and Kindness Has No Boundaries

You make your own life better when you do things to make other people’s lives better. And the most basic way to do that is to start by treating everyone you meet with respect… regardless of who they are, regardless of where they are from,

and regardless of where they are going.

“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”

~ Thomas Paine

Don’t Discriminate: Be An Equal Opportunity Do-Gooder

Do good, and care not to whom.

Do good, and care not the cost.

Do good, and seek not your own reward in return.

Do good to all; do not discriminate.

Do not withhold any goodness from anyone, at any time, for any reason.

Do good to all people, at all times, and in all ways.

“Do good, and care not to whom.”

~ Italian Proverb

Do good, and do it without expectation of anything in return. Do good, and do not be fickle about when you do it. Do good, and do not be concerned with for whom you do it.

You should be careful about choosing who you surround yourself with in life: you should pick and choose your friends, you should pick and choose your associates. But, you should never be fussy about who you help. Offer kindness to all and compassion to everyone you meet.

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“To feel true compassion for all beings,

we must remove all partiality from our attitude toward them.

Genuine compassion must be unconditional.”

~ The Dalai Lama

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We Have an Important Obligation to

Help Raise Other People’s Quality of Life

We all have our struggles, and some of us have more than others. The daily obstacles we all face will give us each enough reasons to be upset, discouraged, saddened, and disappointed. We don’t exactly need to go adding any more of those types of reasons to each other’s lives. Instead, we have to do all that we can to give people a reason to smile, a reason to be happy, and a reason to feel good about themselves.

Ultimately, it is our responsibility to create as much joy and happiness for others as we possibly can. Any opportunity that we get to do something good for someone—whether it is a big thing or just a little thing—we have to take advantage of, and we have to go out of our way to do it.

Life is hard enough for all of us to begin with; we don’t need to go out of our way to make it any harder on each other. What we need to do is go out of our way to make it easier and more pleasant for one another. No one’s life is so perfect that they couldn’t use a little bit of extra kindness and encouragement from someone else.

“The greatest responsibility each of us has

is to raise the life condition of everyone we touch.”

~ Lou Holtz

Choose to Make the World a Better Place

Everything you choose to do—from the words you say and the things you do, to the things that you tolerate others to say and do in your presence—either make our world a better or worse place in which to live. Every good word that you speak, every good decision that you make, and every good action that you take, ultimately makes our world a better place. Conversely, every mean or disrespectful word you utter, every selfish choice you make, and every bad action you take, ultimately makes our world a worse place in which to live.

Choose to make the world a better place.

With every decision you make, you have the power to improve the world in which we live. At any given moment, in anything you do, and in everything that you do, you are choosing to make this world either a better or worse place in which to live. Choose to speak good words, choose to make good decisions, and choose to perform good deeds. Choose to do all the good that you can do. Choose to make the world a better place.

You can improve the quality of the world by improving the quality

of the choices you make and the actions you take.

We all live in a world we help create.

Choose to Live a Better Way.

Choose to Create a Better World.

We Don’t Have to Wait Until We Get to Heaven to Love One Another

I think we all imagine Heaven as this great place where everyone loves each other, and where everyone treats each other with kindness and compassion. We think of it as a place where all people—regardless of race, ethnicity, and social background—live together in perfect harmony... one day.

The truth is, though, that we don’t have to wait for some perfect afterlife to treat each other with love and compassion. We can get started on that right here and now. The world is not perfect, and none of us in it is. But we have to do our best to make it as positive a place as we can. Life is not about enduring until we finally get to Heaven; it’s about doing the best we can to make this world as good a place as we can…because, for the time being, we all have to live here with one another. The only thing preventing us from living in harmony with one another in this world, is our own bias.

Choose to live with an attitude of respect.

Choose to live with an attitude of kindness.

Choose to live with an attitude of love.

Don’t merely try to live in a way that will get you into Heaven.

Your approach should be to live in such a way that you

will be creating Heaven right here on earth.

“We don’t have to wait until we get to Heaven to love one another.”

~ Author Unknown

R espect all people,

E specially women.

A lways do the right thing.

L ive a life that matters.