Before we move on the the Ghost of Christmas Past, i want to highlight Jacob Marley’s Dharma talk on generosity.

“Mankind was my business.

The common welfare was my business;

charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.

The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water

in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Nowadays, social media has the effect of selfing. We want our “self” to look good to the world. As one techie told me,

Facebook—Who I am.

LinkedIn—Who I am professionally.

Twitter—Who I am right now.

Pinterest—Who I want to be.

Google Plus—What I think.

Instagram—Romancing my life. How I want to be perceived and received by the world.

Throwing off the shackles, the fetters of cyberspace is not easy. In our heart of hearts, however, we are indeed interested in the greater good. And Jacob Marley eloquently states the conundrum we still find ourselves in, 175 years after Dickens published this timeless story.

Today, we use a different vocabulary than Marley’s charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence. We might say generosity, compassion, patience, and kindness. These are the true qualities our heart aspires to. These are qualities that we seldom exercise when we are in cyberspace.

Look someone in the eye today. Make a note of the negative judgments, the assumptions you are making about this person. Instead, look for the good in them, and in everyone you meet today.

Let me know what you find.