An Owner's Perogative

Last week, my client, who is a young stroke survivor, his father and I were having a conversation about medical decisions that have affected my client's life adversely. In the middle of the conversation, my client's father, who was speaking vehemently about the lack of sound medical advice given by a doctor treating his son, threw in a racial slur, under the guise of a joke about the doctor. I was astounded! His words were directly related to the doctors place of origin and the colour of his skin.

As a business owner, I had the perogative of telling him that his remarks were unkind and offensive. I mentioned that a doctor like any other person from any region of the country or the world, and of any colour, race or religion can be wrong. I asked him what the doctor's skin colour or where he comes from had to do with the medical advice given?

He immediately retracted his comment when he realized that I was offended.

Poor decisions, errors in judgement and mistakes are made by each of us on a daily basis regardless of where we were born, the colour of our skin, our religion or our size. It is okay to question or even argue a decision or a belief (this is how we learn and grow intellectually and emotionally as humans) but it is not okay to attack the person!

What makes human beings wonderfully unique is our shared capacity to know right from wrong. We have been given an incredible gift... that of conscience. "Let your conscience be your guide." These are powerful words that speak volumes. It is up to each and every one of us to use this gift in a wise and caring way.

It is this gift that allows us to do what is right and just, to be sensitive to the needs of others and to be aware of hurtful words/comments/jokes that do nothing but create chasms. It is our collective gift of struggle that helps us to appreciate diversity, to empathize with those who are struggling, to have the ability to relate with those who are different than us and to accept each other for who and what we each have to offer.

Our choice of words can hurt or our choice of words can heal...We either use words as weapons or we use words to empower!

It is up to each one of us to think of others first, to be cognizant of others feelings, to choose our words carefully, to be aware of how our word choices affect other people and to care enough to be aware.

Humans are both able and disabled, of colour or not of colour, short or tall, young or old, attractive or unattractive, wise or unwise, but we ALL have one thing in common above all other animal life. We are all imbued with an equal quantity of conscience and with this conscience comes responsibility for each other and for all life properties.

I cannot speak for why some people seem to enjoy putting others down with their choice of words but I, for one, choose to accept, respect, Love and enjoy diversity and I choose to challenge those who attack others because of our differences. At the end of the day, when I look in the mirror the only thing that truly matters is what my conscience has to say about me!