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A
Much Overlooked
Way
to Assure Peace
by
Norman
L.
Shoaf
Developing good emotional habits can help us to get along with others
much better. But how can we form good habits?
I
N EVERY
area of
life, it seems,
relationships
between people are
in serious trouble!
H us band s a nd
wives too often find
it difficult to get
a long together happi–
ly. Their marriages
di sintegrate into con–
tinua ! rounds of
arguing, yelling and
even physica l vio–
lence or divorce.
Parents and children
seem commonly to lack
the s kills to in teract
with each other, and thus genera–
tion gaps and juvenile delinquency
replace solid families and proper
chi ld rearing.
Workers and bosses too often
cannot relate amicably, and so com–
panies suffer from petty politics,
unh appy working environments
and labor unrest and strikes.
And realize this: The problems
exist not just on the personal level,
but on a global scale. Nations are
merely groups of people uni ted
together, and so entire nations can't
get along with each other either!
The result? Today's international
strife and misunderstanding that
threaten this world with nuclear
annihilation!
And yet mankind in the 20th
May 1983
century has achieved such astonish–
ing progress in science, technology
and industry as to make one's hcad
spin.
Why the paradox? Why is it that
people can accomplish such amaz–
ing feats with material things, yet
can ' t live at peace witb each
other?
Emotional lmmaturity
A large number of the problems
between people today are caused
by unchecked emot ion, thought–
lessness and misguided feelings–
in short , emotional immaturity.
But emotional immaturity is often
overlooked as the cause of person–
al problems. People blame a ll
their difficulties on
other
people,
life circumstances or
bad luck instead.
Consi der:
H ow
would you react if your
boss berated you for
someone else's mis–
take? Would you ex–
plode and give him a
piece of your mind ?
Would you take the
criticism, though you
didn ' t deserve it, and
resent your boss per–
sonally from then on?
Would you say nothing
at work, but then take
out you r suppressed
anger on your
wi~
when you got home?
Would you wait until
you and the boss both calmed
down, and then try to find a proper
solution to the problem through
discussion or other means ?
Suppose, if you ' re a wife, that
your husband c riticized somethi ng
about the way you keep your home.
Would you become upset and
depressed about it? Would you
laugb and ignore him, not taking
the criticism seriously? Would you
cry when you are alone? Would
you consider the criticism and ask
your husband why he feel s that
way?
Why do we react to each other
the way we do? How many of us
have ever stopped to consciously
think about
why
we do certain
things the way we do?
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