Seek to be gracious

I try to see the good in people...I try to believe that people aren't purposefully hateful (took a minute to think of a word, since there are plenty of sadists who are PURPOSEFULLY mean, cruel, etc.). But seriously, some times I am severely challenged in this space.

I'm angry and dismayed by the behavior. I want to strike out, to antagonize, to torment, to create the "death by a thousand paper cuts". I want to wreak havoc in the individual lives, mess them up, teach them a lesson.

But it isn't my place. The petty little things I might accomplish won't carry actual justice. I know this truth, even if I don't want to accept it.

Instead, I seek to be gracious; to go quietly within the world and do what I can do to improve it; to offer patience; to turn aside the insults and release the vexations others would serve on my spirit.

I breathe...deeply, serenely, quietly...let them go, let them go, let them go...