Quote:
Originally Posted by shiftmonkey
I love this idea. I actually live in an area where many people address each other as brother and sister. I find myself doing it at times if I am among the right crowd. It totally lifts my spirit when someone addresses me as brother.
|
Right, I think the key thing in this is to raise our awareness of the desirability of addressing our fellow human beings thusly and make an effort of doing it as often as we can. By that I mean, we shouldn't attempt it towards people who are not likely at all to be receptive or appreciative of such a gesture, and we shouldn't feel bad about not doing it there and then either. Also, when we are among a crowd where this is comme il faut we do it naturally and hopefully, in time, automatically. Where we can make the world change is being a "proselyte" among the more ordinary people, i.e. use the terms when we don't feel we're just "doing as the Romans do" but where our action may make people reflect on "how cool it is that he just called him or her brother or sister". In order to be able to "live the gospel" like that in real life one would probably have to bolster one's motivation and intrepidness. Methods for doing that might be hanging around people who inspire you or meditating on doing it (intent).