“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.” – Hermann Hesse
You are never a helpless victim of the world around you. There are many ways to say to your world, “the buck stops here.” There is always something that you can do to drive back the chaos. The question is, will you be man or woman enough to rise to the challenge?
Gregory Hake 
There is no lack of ways in which we can apply Hesse’s advice. Even compensating for a shortage of love once per day would be supremely insufficient. It would seem to me that a more worthy goal would be to see how much of each of these things we could do each day, and to make each day more full of love and life than the day prior.
LikeLike
Love this! Thank you. It is so simple yet means SO much.
LikeLike
The buck stops here with me. This does make for worthwhile and expansive living as well as knowing our AUTHORITY!
LikeLike
I love these examples. This is a recipe for refinement and a brilliant answer to the tired question, What can one person do? Thanks!
LikeLike
What a great quote Gregg, it’s wonderful to get to know Hermann Hesse through your writing. I particularly liked the part about compensating for the shortage of love with more love in small, private matters. In the chaos of the world the pretense of love is so often shouted from the roof tops. I would wager that it is what we do in private carriers the most power. So much to consider in so few words…
LikeLike
The excuse of “I’m a victim” leads to a life of helplessness and futility. If we have taken this stance, we can take heart in knowing that today is the first day of the rest of our lives. Each day, we have the opportunity to choose life, freedom and experience purpose, fulfillment and creativity.
LikeLike
Love this Gregg!! Also a great thing for our children to learn growing up today.
LikeLike
Insisting to yourself, and holding that line through your actual living, that you are not here to promulgate anything that is not consistent with love; is the only way to change the habit of disintergrative expression. It’s catching the critical thinking before it becomes a word or taking a moment to realize your heart is disturbed and then taking the next moment to get yourself right before you continue with another thought. When we make the effort to be a blessing we find our life changes as the majesty of love has room to create.
LikeLike
Thank you for your well said words. They do provide words to live by for the increase of the light of love to increase in the world by our individual living.
LikeLike