Author Topic: Don't Push, Pull  (Read 1206 times)

Post-Crisis D

Don't Push, Pull
« on: September 29, 2018, 04:08:04 PM »
A man is hanging precariously on the edge of a cliff hundreds of feet in the air.

He needs your help.

He may be in need of emotional rescue and you might have to talk him out of voluntarily letting go.  You might need to lend him a hand to pull him up or you might need only to encourage him to pull himself back up.

Or his needs may be physical.  He might have stepped too close to the edge and slipped.  You might need to give him your hand and help pull him up.  You might also need a rope.

There are any number of ways you might be able to rescue the man.

However, it is not necessary to kick someone else off the edge in order to do it.

Same goes if you're the one in need of rescue.  You don't need to pull someone over the edge in order to find your way back on top.

I think people forget this sometimes.

It's not necessary to tear someone else down in order to build yourself up.  And you can help pull others up without dragging still others down.

There's too much hate in the world already.  No need to add to it.

Pull, don't push.

:pdt
Mulder: "If you're distracted by fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above."
The X-Files: "Blood"
 

Cathleen

Re: Don't Push, Pull
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2018, 12:21:05 AM »
This is one of those things that seems so simple that it hardly needs saying. Unfortunately, I and many others can always use the reminder. We are the sum of our choices. I want mine to lift people up. :)
 
The following users thanked this post: Post-Crisis D

David VanDyke

  • Long Novel unlocked
  • ***
  • Posts: 799
  • Thanked: 805 times
  • Gender: Male
  • Full-time hybrid author and curmudgeon
    • David VanDyke's Author Website
Re: Don't Push, Pull
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2018, 04:08:48 AM »
Good-willed people already know this. Narcissists, trolls and other toxic people react selfishly, with their emotions only, and only care about their immediate, transitory feelings--often pleasurable, when they hurt someone else. They believe they deserve it. They lack empathy. The kindergarten question "what if someone did that to you?" doesn't reach them.

So, I salute the sentiment, but for adults whose personalities are already formed, it's damned hard to get them to change. It takes a major emotional event--a tragedy, an epiphany, a spiritual conversion--to get them to change.
Never listen to people with no skin in the game.

I'm a lucky guy. I find the harder I work, the luckier I am.

Those who prefer their English sloppy have only themselves to thank if the advertisement writer uses his mastery of the vocabulary and syntax to mislead their weak minds.

~ Dorothy L. Sayers
 
The following users thanked this post: Jeff Tanyard, Post-Crisis D