Message of the Day - When Bad Becomes Good

Good Morning,

 

There are times in our lives when we do things that we wished later on that we never had done. There are events in our lives which we feel we would be better off if they had never happened to us. There are people who caused us pain and suffering which we hoped that they never did. Sometimes we are those people who caused the pain and suffering to others.

 

Life is full of times when things we say and do don’t come across as we intended. I remember working in a hardware store in Seaford, NY, Henry’s Hardware, when I was a Junior in high school. We had a discount for Senior Citizens and special folks which we called ‘Number One’. When we bring a customer to the cashier we would say, they are ‘Number One’ and they would get a 10% discount. That seemed like a nice thing for our customers.

 

One day I was working the front register in our house wares department and an elderly lady came to the register and I told her that she is eligible for the Senior discount. She smiled at me and gladly accepted the 10% discount. I felt so good helping that customer that I repeated the same thing to the next lady in line, except she was in her 40’s…. I ruined her day. I am pretty sure that I never saw her at our store ever again and all I wanted was to give her a discount so she would be happy like the first lady.

 

There are people who do a lot more than that to hurt others, and I am guilty of this as well.

 

The good news is that it can be turned around. We can all learn from our past and do good to help others. Does doing good automatically absolve us from what we did in the past, not necessarily, but that should not stop us from trying to help others and be a good guy.

 

In addition, when we take our experiences where we brought pain to others and learn from them and turn it around to be a blessing to others, our help becomes even more powerful. Think about Saul of Tarsus for one who made such a transition. Fictionally, there is Riddick from the movies ‘Pitch Black’ and ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ who is the villain who turns around and becomes the good guy. A very cool one at that…

 

With the experiences we have, we can do a greater good for others, knowing what is like having caused pain in the past. Not that I am recommending you go piss off your coworker or next door neighbor just to get experience in trying to apply this message.

 

Knowing what it is like to cause suffering is a motivator to help us find ways to not do those things, and try to find ways to bring happiness to others. In some cases this is a continual challenge, like in marriage, but it is worth the challenge.

 

It is okay to have been bad (and stopped being bad), when you turn it around and become a force for good. Pay your dues and keep fighting the good fight and we will have more do-gooders in the world to help us make it a better place to be.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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