Ancient Chinese philosophy is not a hobby – maybe just a random thing I think of here an there – because I know nothing about it or its ideologies, yet. But I stumbled upon this quote and had to write about it. “Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.” I’m not a philosopher, and have not read enough philosophy to even begin to break this down properly. But to me, it’s in attune to what a proper mother tells their child when bullying: “Just ignore them, and they will go away.”

Far too often, we as humans are mistreated, bullied, or put down. Our first thought is often to retaliate, to get even, to seek revenge. That is why the world is currently filled with hypocrites, bitterness, and hate; Mental illness runs rampant, and people are full of themselves. This is both a cause and a result of some of the treatment that people put others through. In addition, too few people don’t go to church. Parents aren’t taking their children to houses of worship, the pews are empty, and that means it’s only going to get worse.

If we don’t think, if we let just our mouths move, or our actions be without heart, we cannot say we are better. In fact, maybe worse. If someone treats us poorly, and we know how bad it has made us feel, we are attacking back with carnal knowledge of the hurt we are causing. Maybe the original perpetrator was ignorant and didn’t know what they were doing.

But we do. The successful people I meet in my realm, who I deem intelligent, and who appear to have happy and whole families…most of them go to church it turns out.

Respond intelligent. When you are hurt, love back, don’t hurt others.