08 April 2010

So true

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

4 comments:

Jennifer Mosher said...

wow - YESSS - great words to remember. Thanks!

Unstoppable Lindsey said...

Oh WOW.....

Lohra said...

Ah, those Germans. Got to love them. Well...you don't...but I do now.

Shannon said...

You know, you've kind of fallen off the wagon here. I know you have plenty to write about...so write!