I am a life long observer of human behavior.  It fascinates me.  Watching how my fellow earthlings act and listening to how they speak can take me from the heights of joyous celebration to the depths of despair or the other way around. Sometimes in a matter of 15 seconds. We are too often volatile creatures.

From watching humans for five decades I have come to the conclusion that we all move along the T-W-A continuum.  Not the Trans World Airlines continuum but the Thoughts – Words – Actions continuum.  Specifically we form our thoughts or allow them to form us, then we express those thoughts through the words we choose and finally we manifest both thoughts and words in the actions we take. As Ralph Waldo Emerson stated so succinctly “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

Let’s go back to the first segment of the continuum.  Either we form our thoughts or we allow them to form us.  I argue that successful humans take responsibility for forming their own constructive thoughts rather than allowing their destructive thoughts to rule them.   While this may apply to those that accumulate wealth, power and influence I am referring to being successful in relationships with our fellow human beings. I am referring to the folks that get along with almost anybody, who almost always have encouraging words for others and put the needs of others ahead of their own.  I hope you know some one like that.  We desperately need more of these folks among us.

I also argue that the most destructive and offensive members of the human race became that way because their negative thoughts govern their lives.  Maybe they have been deeply hurt and never recovered which generated negative thoughts that spiraled out of control.  Hurting people hurt people is a common adage.  Maybe they have suffered injustice that left painful emotional scars that never healed and the pain drives them to crave revenge.  Is there really anyway to know how they arrived at the point of harming others?

But as we experience more tragedies like the massacre in Orlando we are going to feel the wrath of these disgruntled human beings more deeply than ever. At Columbine, Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon,  the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and now at the Pulse in Orlando precious lives were extinguished by human beings so consumed by hate that we cannot begin to understand. We are mostly powerless to detect or deter these horrific events.

That does not mean there is nothing we can do. We can begin by cultivating thoughts that all lives are precious.  They all matter.  No exclusions, no excuses. We can continue by speaking kind, respectful words to other human beings and about other human beings. Reject the rhetoric of the political leaders, the candidates running for election or the many self proclaimed pundits in the media or on social media. Most importantly,  let our actions speak loudly of love, grace, benevolence and tolerance. Anything less is a dismal alternative.