right actions

We've all done it - said something mean, hurtful, angry, insensitive, rude, embarrassing, foolish, prideful, arrogant, etc. etc. - some words have slipped by our lips that we later regret.

And the actions we sometimes take can be even worse - a look, a huff, a roll of the eyes, a slam of the door, a heavy march of the feet, perhaps a slap with the hand - and we all know that actions speak more loudly than our words.

Hopefully an appropriate apology helps to heal these momentary slip-ups, when perhaps emotions catch us off guard.

To speak is to act - and we speak and act sometimes in ways we know we shouldn't. We of course mature and learn to leave behind some of these things, but we'll always make mistakes in our far from perfect selves. The pre-meditated actions we take, however, are not so easily healed by a simple apology, when the action we've taken isn't a simple mix-up or emotional outburst.

I think back on the times when I've done things I later regret, and besides simple maturity, it seems that there are two reasons that keep popping up for why this occurs. One is that I simply didn't care about the thing I should have cared about. Like when my friends and I teased that weird boy in 5th grade - we didn't care about him. He was gross, uncool, and whatever else we couldn't see past. We place things out of their proper order in the heirarchy of stuff that matters; our values are not where they ought to be. Apathy kills almost as much as outright hatred. A second reason is simple ignorance - a lack of knowledge or information, an oversight of something that we should have taken the time to be aware of.

But if I first check the heart, and then check the head, perhaps the body will follow with actions that heal instead of hurt, that build instead of tear down.