Manipulating People

I usually blog sporatically and when I have sat down and given enough thought to write a lengthy post. I will most assuredly continue my long posts, but it is my hope to intersperse them with shorter ones as well, like this one posted from my blackberry.

I am traveling today on business, and the time alone gives me the much needed opportunity to think and reflect, something I simply have not taken adequate time to do as of late. I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine yesterday about the way people treat each other. In a beautifully Christian humanist statement, my friend said "I try not to view other people as objects of manipulation." My cursory analysis of his statement was "well of course." But I realized it meant something more difficult. Sitting in a book store, he pointed to one of the workers and noted that he desired not to view that person as merely a source of information to help him locate a book, but as a human being with intrinsic value. Makes sense enough, and then I started to realize what a tall order that is.

Even in my personal relationships, I know I don't do a good job of that. I'm primarily concerned with what I am getting. This is with people I care deeply about. How much worse is it with people I don't even know.

"Love suffers long and is kind...Love does not seek its own."

It is difficult to deal with all of my selfish interests. They make me impatient, and consequently frustrated, which leads to vindictiveness, not on any broad scale, but potentially in a worse way, on a very petty scale--and for no other reason than that I am not getting my way.

I've got to do better. That will only come about with a change of attitude, though, which doesn't occur with ease. First must come the recognition that my needs aren't the only needs, and my pains aren't the only pains. And until I am able to subordinate my ego to the needs and struggles of others, my hope for unselfishness is an exercise in futility.