What a WOW!
Did you hear about the parishoner who anonymously donated a $30,000 winning lottery ticket via the collection plate of a struggling church in Baltimore? WOW – what a generous thing to do… and to do it anonymously besides makes it even more of a WOW.
However, many of the various blog postings seem to focus on folks thinking that person was trying to “buy redemption” through the church, or trying to “show off” – or a whole host of other nefarious reasons for donating the ticket.
Have we really become so cynical that we can no longer just accept any act without suspecting there’s an ulterior motive? The “judging” that occurs whenever anyone does almost anything any more is incredible. We judge the person’s motives, their actions, their true intentions – even their appearance when they do it.
If we ever want to create WOWplaces (anywhere, not just at work), we need to do a little self-editing when we find ourselves starting to judge someone else or their actions. We all do it – because we’re all human.
But although our thought processes are often the same, causing the worst sides of our humanity to sometimes come through, our actions can be moderated by that very humanity, allowing our compassionate and non-judgmental side to shine through and just accept the actions on face value and see the good in what others do.
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be cautious when the actions of others could adversely affect us, our colleagues, our loved ones, or our communities… but a little less judging and a little more tolerance can go a long way toward restoring our faith in humanity. At the very least, it can go a long way toward simply lessening the stress and disappointment we allow (or create) in our own lives!
