Ellen Degeneres and George Bush
16Got this in my inbox this morning and think it is a message worth sharing:
(everything below is from the email from Jamy Bechler – I’m not familiar with that person – didn’t know I was on this mailing list)
Mark Twain said it best when he stated that “Kindness is a gift that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Ellen Degeneres came under fire when she was caught on camera at a nationally televised Dallas Cowboys game sitting next to former U.S. President George Bush. It seems that some people are so angry and disagreeable that they think everyone else should be also.
Some of the criticism got so bad that Ellen decided to address it on her show.
Ellen is a funny celebrity but she is also very thoughtful, insightful, and wise. She further solidified this reputation with her well thought out and logical response, “I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s okay that we’re all different. Just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them. When I say be kind to one another, I don’t only mean the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”
You can see the entire four-minute clip (on YouTube) by clicking here (it’s pretty funny, by the way).
For some, it is no longer acceptable to “agree to disagree”. It is no longer okay to have diversity of thought. Too many people have taken the “if you are not for us, then you are against us” approach.
A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they might deserve. Treat everyone with kindness, even those who are rude to you or that you disagree with, not because they are nice but because you are.
The great humanitarian and philosopher Albert Schweitzer said, “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”
Adding to this, Abe Lincoln said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Martin Luther King, Jr. encountered many people that disagreed with him (quite the understatement), yet managed to win people over through his peaceful and loving spirit. One of my favorite things that he said was “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
If you want the world to be better. If you want people to believe what you believe (or at least see your point of view), then give them a reason to. Show them that your opinions and viewpoint are worthy of consideration. You don’t do this by being mean-spirited, rude, or spiteful.
Be the change that you want to see in the world. One person can make a difference and everyone should try. To the world, you may be one person but to one person you may be the world.
Let change start with you. Be the reason someone smiles today. Be kind to everyone, not just those that agree with you.
Thanks so much for reading this email and until next time, remember that success is a choice. What choice will you make today?
Jamy Bechler
Motivational Speaker & Team Consultant John Maxwell
Leadership Coach
(765) 661-2841
JamyBechler.com
TheLeadershipPlaybook.com
SuccessIsAChoicePodcast.com
- 7 comments, 10 replies
- Comment
Saw that too. Excellent thoughts. And good for Ellen for standing up to it!
Now, you think that’ll work to keep people from blaming me for everything that happens to them this month?
@ybmuG It’s in your job description to be blamed so you are out of luck on that front I think…
@ybmuG I’ll kindly blame you.
@shahnm yeah, didn’t think it would work, but had to ask, as long as we were being all agreeable and everything…
Great reminder. We should all make a conscious effort every day to be kind and make the world a better place!
Thx for posting this.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/be-kind
@narfcake Great motto (wonder why I hadn’t seen it before?)
(Other than that I seldom shop for tee shirts.)
Excellent message! We need to beat it into the heads of those intolerant… riiiight, kindness, right…
On the one hand, it is true. You should be kind to people, even if you disagree with them.
On the other hand, I think people are less upset by seeing a conservative cordially seated next to a liberal and are more upset by a lesbian icon contentedly interacting with and sitting next to a president who had actively curtailed LGBT rights and awareness across their 8 year presidency.
The upset mostly stems from the sense that the very wealthy have the privilege to be friendly with each other, despite standing on far opposite ends on an issue concerning the treatment of other humans, because their wealth has negated the weight of the issue on their personal lives.
Basically, it makes it seem like the very wealthy have greater solidarity or loyalty to other wealthy people than the community they purportedly represent. Cause they do.
So be kind to others, that’s a given. Just don’t look to celebrities to be paragons for a cause, and be aware that many disagreements that were generally seen as political have been shown more publicly nowadays to have damaging ramifications on actual people.
@ThomasF The whole Ellen George Bush thing is really dumb though. The point is more in regards to “just be kind” in general.
@ThomasF Eh, everyone was against LGBT people until the past couple years. https://babylonbee.com/news/obama-canceled-after-activists-dig-up-old-campaign-where-he-opposed-gay-marriage
@ThomasF @Weboh
To be a bit technical, “everyone” was not against LGBTQ rights a few years ago. Or a few decades ago.
Perhaps you speak of politicians?
Some politicians were actually against LGBTQ rights, and got wiser. Good for them.
Some politicians did not publicly support LGBTQ issues, such as marriage rights, because they perhaps thought their own political careers would not survive at that time; and they perhaps thought their other political issues were also worthy.
In other words, they took cover. Tried to pick their fights. (Not such great behavior, this perhaps forgivable. Or not forgivable.)
Glad we got past that.
The common overall political landscape on LGBTQ issues changed very quickly. And that’s good.
@Weboh You do realize that the Babylon Bee is a satire site, right?
@msklzannie Heh, yes. Though Obama did still campaign on that; this site just said it in an amusing way, while also making the point not to dismiss someone because some of the views they purport to hold are different than yours.
@f00l @ThomasF Yeah, I posted that when I didn’t have time to go into more detail, and shouldn’t have. That’s basically what I was saying. There are many legitimate reasons to dislike HW Bush, but holding a position most politicians of his time also held isn’t one of them.
I know people who live in that area code and prefix but don’t know who Jamy is. I’ll have to ask them. Still good to see kindness despite different opinions on display, regardless. As someone once sang, we all, “need to calm down” a little and realize we’re all on this planet together.