First, do no harm!
Primum non nocere.
First do no harm.
Happy Hogmanay! I hope you enjoyed a very sweet and peaceful Christmas celebration, one that left you feeling fortunate, grateful, and content. Hogmanay (New Years’ Eve celebrations in Scotland) cannot ever be complete without Rabbie’s poem and song.
The familiar song reflects upon old friendships that have stood the test of time and I am blessed, for some reason unbeknownst to me, to have a wealth of loyal, kind, thoughtful, and devoted friends of long-standing and even more on-line through my blog. I am grateful to you folks for your unwavering, gracious and indulgent support and your affinity and amity.
When year-end looms, typically we engage in some reflection, evaluation, and planning. For me, reflection always triggers thoughts of how many good deeds I failed to perform or words of kindness and hope I failed to utter, that might have eased another’s burden. In evaluating, 2023 was definitely a volatile year — one of both terrific and tragic events throughout the world.
Some of the terrific:
- The hole in the ozone layer is shrinking; and
- 2023 was a year of significant global vaccine progress - both development and delivery - and not just for COVID & RSV; and
- According to the WHO, the pandemic ended 5th May 2023; and
- Global repatriation of treasures and artefacts. Here in Canada, Scotland returned a stollen Totem to Nisga'a territory, BC.
Some of the tragic:
- Death and destruction caused by wildfires in Canada, Australia, Greece and Maui; and
- Turkey’s 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake; and
- October 7th; and
- The resulting extreme polarisation and world-wide protests that are taxing our first responders to their limits - and beyond.
In the face of rapidly multiplying discrimination, hatred, racism, religious persecution, and intolerance, our responsibility and our privilege is to intentionally love each other despite our myriad differences. If you’re setting New Year’s resolutions or intentions, a good start might be to swear your commitment to a phrase from the modern hippocratic oath: “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm.”
Part of such a commitment means adopting the Buddhist tenet of Right Speech. More than a mere ethical and moral imperative, Right Speech is first and foremost understanding that all words have far-reaching, karmic consequences, and sequential results - a contagion effect, if you will. Right Speech also means thinking very carefully about clicking “like” or “love” on social media, regardless of which friend or relative made the post. Right Speech requires thoughtful, cautious, tactfulness…. Diplomacy.
One of the hardest things about diplomacy is to put yourself into someone else's shoes without compromising your own principles.**
And isn’t that exactly what acceptance and inclusion demands of us? That we step into someone else’s shoes? Such dexterous diplomacy requires, first and foremost, courage, but also kindness, patience, geniality and a willingness to listen and learn. To halt the ripple effect of hatred that is being felt the world over requires our politicians, our religious leaders, our social influencers, our authors, and our broadcast media, to adopt a new tactic: Defusing anger. Whilst in a blind rage, combatants will never be able to hear a different, peaceful message.
We are, each one of us who walks this planet, interconnected and codependent. We are not isolated, we are neither self-reliant nor
self-sufficient, there is no us versus them — we are one. That’s the message all leaders need to impart.
The world’s statesmen’s subtle eloquence, their knowledge tempered with tact, their imagination tempered with tact, and their determination tempered with tact will contribute much to the successful calming of troubled waters and the soothing of frantic souls.
Even so, I’ll wager that societal peace will be achieved not by politicians, but by any and all community leaders - pastors, educators, physicians, club presidents, judges, coaches, police officers and parents - who consistently inspire, who espouse and fight for justice, who are gracious and honourable, who dedicate themselves to building new bridges rather than perpetuating old conflicts, who foster community and well-being for all. The bullies of our world will not stand a chance against such an army of diplomats and peacemakers.
The guid willie-waught bit is about rekindling the past with a handshake and a goodwill drink. Perhaps Rabbie was onto something...
For 2024, let’s all swear to first do no harm, let’s resolve to use our voices and our words for good, let’s focus, not on all that is wrong with our world, but on how good we can make it, let’s take every opportunity to perform that good deed or whisper that encouraging word, let’s strive to heal our communities, and let’s all be beacons for hope. Let’s take Rabbie’s advice - extend that hand and share that drink (even if it’s a latte in a coffee bar). Who knows just how far-reaching the karmic consequences of our actions might be, how wide-spread the contagion effect might bloom.
Wishing you a Happy New Year with love and peace in your heart.
’Til next time, y’all…
*R. (Rabbie) Burns, “Auld Lang Syne”, page 477, from Complete Works of Robert Burns.
**Condoleezza Rice, former US Secretary of State, from her autobiography, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington