Seven Sayings for Reducing Interpersonal Conflict

Dear Fellow Earthlings, Do not be misled, my fellow humans! Old adages are not old fashioned. They are as vital

now as they were when they were created. They can serve to reduce friction that sometimes

accompanies interpersonal relations among us.

Here are seven adages for you to consider. "Familiarity breeds contempt." I personally feel that true familiarity breeds not contempt, but rather compassion and

tolerance.The contempt aspect enters the picture when the two parties concerned stop

working at maintaining a relationship. Give and take are so important. "Kee who has many friends has no friends." (I use the epicene pronoun "kee" here so that we need not mention gender.) My experience tells me that my notion of a friend is someone to whom I can confide my feelings

and speak to candidly about my experiences, my take on social conventions, and my dreams.

Hopefully, in turn, that person will harbor similar expectations as kee speaks to ME. There are

simply not enough hours in a day to be friends with more than just a handful of people

-- at least, according to MY definition of friendship. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything." Whenever possible we should seek ways to make our interlocutors comfortable as we speak. Words and expressions used as weapons can not only hurt, but possibly even destroy! "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Whenever you can show respect for the ways of a place you are visiting, the local people will tend

to respect you, too. This does not always ring true, however. Distrust of strangers is built into many people. Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where your best efforts to "blend in" are not

working, it is advisable to look for a different place to visit -- or to live! "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Pleasing other people not only with words, but with deeds will go a long way toward making

EVERYONE CONCERNED feel happier and more secure. Finally, I present two sentences composed especially for this blog. "A" is a thought that came to me just now: "B" is an old adage ("Too err is human, to forgive is divine.") -- but with an addition which, I felt, could increase its scale. A. "Since we cannot read more than a few faces like a book, let's stop trying to do so -- and keep a degree of peace instead!" Social media is media -- and media is NOT social, since it makes pronouncements. Our impressions of others may, when all is said and done, be completely wrong. What you see is not always what is really before your eyes. B. "Too err is human, to forgive is divine -- for harboring hatred toward innocent descendants of

perpetrators of dastardly deeds -- who in numerous instances were not even born when the

wrongdoing was committed -- is truly a less-than-divine attitude taken by descendants of the victims." This brings to mind a dog that I, as a 9-year-old, saw viciously kill a kitten. A couple of years later that kitten's surviving sister (who had managed to climb a tree just seconds before she too would have been murdered on that tragic day) was the best of friends with the full grown son of the vicious dog that had killed her sister. True, the cat probably was totally unaware of the fact that the dog whose face she enjoyed licking was the son of her sister's killer -- but wouldn't it be nice if we humans could make the most of each new generation of humankind! Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

EarthSaver

Steve Walker

Seven Sayings for Reducing Interpersonal Conflict