Who is going to get burned?

I have heard and I have even said, “Well, this doesn’t hurt anyone but me” but that is not true at all. As the proverb says, if I am messing with fire and it gets too close to me, my clothes are going to get burned. Every decision, every action, every step will set into motion a ripple that will impact those in my path – for good or for bad.

I can make the decision to be nice to the cashier as I am checking out and it will impact those behind, the cashier and even myself. Or I can choose to ignore the cashier, make no attempt to be kind, and the cashier will feel the rejection and I will walk away unchanged (at the minimum.) Or even worse I could be rude to the cashier – even if I am justified because of her lack of skills – and that will burn further than I could imagine. I will be in a bad mood, the people behind me will be impacted and the cashier may go home and take it out on her family. All because of a decision I made. It does hurt others.

May walk in steps and make decisions that will not burn those around us.