We will find ourselves in many places throughout our life and in each place we will have different obligations to ourselves and the people around us. As Elie Wiesel famously said, “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
We must do good when it is in our power to do it.
In our conduct have two main bulkheads: kindness and discipline. If we use either one without consideration for the other, we abuse ourselves or others.
If we expect kindness and grace from others without ever acknowledging discipline or boundaries, this is enablement. We can do this to ourselves as well. Kindness to myself without discipline is the enablement of bad habits in the name of “compassion.”
And discipline without kindness leads to a broken spirit and self-sabotage. It dries up the fountain of inspiration and motivation in even the most spirited youth.
We must find a balance between the two in what we expect of ourselves, what we show toward others, and what we expect from others. Kindness and discipline. So powerful together, so harmful when apart.
Note: Much of my thoughts today are stolen from an email newsletter I received this week from Mark Appel. Like I often do, I am writing what resonates with me to lodge it more deeply in my psyche.