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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8535-Do-Not-Do-Harm.html
Spiritual: October 04, 2017 Issue [#8535]

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Spiritual


 This week: Do Not Do Harm
  Edited by: NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Our Writing.Com community shows that people can get along. How do we spread that to the wider world?

This week's Spiritual Newsletter is about hatred and violence, and how we can stop it.

NaNoKit Author Icon


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

Have you been watching the news? Have you been browsing the Internet? Grim, isn’t it? There’s all this hatred and division out there, and I know that I have spoken out about it several times, including in this newsletter, but it isn’t good.

Thank goodness for Writing.Com. We get along on here. It doesn’t matter about your gender, or your age, or your nationality, or your faith, or your romantic preferences, or anything. We’re a friendly bunch. We care about the other, and we care about helping the other.

If we can manage this without any problems, why can’t the wider world? If we can have a safe place on here – a place that has been safe for 17 years now – why can’t peace last outside of this website? It baffles me. It shouldn’t be difficult. If people valued what we value when we hang out on Writing.Com, everyone would be so much happier.

When we interact with the other, we do so with respect. Any differences between us are either irrelevant or met with a genuine interest and a willingness to learn from the other. Helping, sharing and support are seen as good things, things that we do and enjoy doing. We don’t drag others down. We build them up instead.

We have fun, we laugh, and any minor irritations are smoothed over very quickly. We do not accept bullying. We do not tolerate anyone being mean. We may not all share the same opinions, but that’s okay. We can hang out regardless. There is far more that unites us than what divides us.

Yet, out there in the wider world people call the other names over anything and everything. People might decide who you are and attack you for it, even if they are completely wrong. A friend of mine gets sent horrible tweets for hours on end, several times a week, and as soon as she blocks an account new ones will pop up. Why? Because she is critical of how people on low incomes are treated, and people with disabilities, and people with health problems, and she feels that certain policies are damaging. She gets accused by one side of being a liberal (insert not very nice terms here), and threatened because of it, and by the other side of being a right-wing (insert further not very nice terms) and gets abused by them. I have been threatened and abused for being a woman, for being an immigrant, for having political views. I have been told that I will burn in hell because whilst I believe in God, I don’t follow any particular religion. My support of marriage rights for same-gender couples doesn’t help there.

Beyond the Internet there’s violence. And terrible suffering. And for what? Why are people so awful to one another? Why all the destruction?

We are capable of better. This community is evidence of that. All we need to do as a species is to follow one simple rule: Do not do harm.

We do not lose anything if we refuse to harm others. Instead, we gain a lot. We gain a safer world. One in which everyone can thrive. It would mean the end to violence, the end to abuse, the end to treating anyone as though they are somehow less.

People would be treated with dignity and respect. Everyone would have a decent standard of living, because anything less than that would be doing harm.

Will it ever happen? I often get accused of being an idealist, but I cannot see why it can’t. All that it takes is for people to decide to not do harm. I can decide that. You can decide that. The more people who make that decision, the better the world will become.

I have made that decision. You’re free to join me. *Smile*

NaNoKit Author Icon



Editor's Picks

In line with the subject of this newsletter, I want to highlight the following important contests:

FORUM
Love Shouldn't Hurt Short Story Contest Open in new Window. (GC)
1st Short Story Contest - physical or verbal abuse awareness. November 1st- November 30rd
#2075286 by Lyn's a Witchy Woman Author IconMail Icon


FORUM
Love Shouldn't Hurt Poetry Contest Open in new Window. (GC)
1st Poetry Contest raising awareness about abuse. November 1st- November 30rd
#2040807 by Lyn's a Witchy Woman Author IconMail Icon


If you enjoy the Fall, come check out the 5-day mini challenges in:

FORUM
30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS Open in new Window. (13+)
WDC's Longest Running Blog Competition - Hiatus
#1786069 by Fivesixer Author IconMail Icon


If you want to express yourself beyond a lower content rating:

FORUM
Kit's Higher Ratings Contest Open in new Window. (18+)
A contest for items with a higher content rating.
#887621 by NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon


And if you need something a little more light-hearted:

FORUM
Intentionally Bad Story Contest Open in new Window. (ASR)
You probably know about intentionally bad poetry. This contest is all about the stories!
#2075418 by NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon


There is a new poetry contest in town:

FORUM
The Daily Poem Open in new Window. (13+)
A Week of Poetic Craziness
#2133562 by JayNaNoOhNo Author IconMail Icon


And if you've read a good item, why not do something nice for its author and nominate them:

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1536048 by Not Available.


Last but not least, this activity is raising funds for the Quills:

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2060413 by Not Available.




 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Don't forget to support our sponsor!

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Ask & Answer

The Spiritual Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! *Smile*

Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,

The Spiritual Newsletter Team.




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