Using Your Personal Block Button.

Just this past week I taught a nun how to block angry and divisive comments from her Facebook account.
One of her posters raged at me for showing her and others how to do this.

How DARE YOU, this individual screamed. Don’t you know this is AMERICA and we have FREEDOM of SPEECH here?




I blocked him too.

I could almost see this person in complete and utter rage mode, veins extended in the neck, the face purple, the eyes bulging, salivating as he screamed at his monitor.
It deeply affected him, it seemed, that I had armed someone with the ability not to listen to screaming raging tantrums.


And throughout the week, I had blocked others as well, both on my facebook page as well as in real life, for much the same reason.

Why, would you ask?

The answer is simple.

It is true that The United States constitution grants its citizens several unalienable rights.
These rights are extended to freedom of speech as well as freedom to religious choice.



What the United States Constitution does not guarantee is the right to be

Obnoxious
Callous
Rude
and Vulgar

It’s easy to use the constitution, like scripture, to justify one’s stance, saying it is indeed okay to be all of these things, either in real time or on the internet,

But I have the equal right not to have to listen to angry diatribe, divisive speech or foolish talk.

And for that I use my own personal block button.


What is that, one might ask?

Simple.

Whenever someone tries to engage me in angry, harsh or foolish talk, I simply don’t listen, I certainly don’t entertain it, and I refuse to indulge another person’s drama.


Whenever someone is vulgar online, it is easy enough to simply not respond, and better still to remove them from our presence.

It’s just as easy to do in public as well.
Whenever someone is these things to me in public, I simply do not engage them.
I do not indulge their foolish or violent behavior.
Because to do so would be like tossing a lit match
Into a bucket of kerosene.

The best defense, I’ve learned
Is simply to walk away.


Nothing stops an angry diatribe by
Not indulging the behavior

If they come to my door
I simply close the door.

If they approach me on the street
I walk away

Let them scream
Rant
Throw their tantrum
Let them win the argument
Who Cares?

In the great scheme of the universe
It does not matter.


In one hundred years time
Would anyone remember
That person X threw a tantrum
In the produce aisle
Because you refused to
Listen to their ravings?

Afterwards, go do your practice.
And let go of any anger that
You might have accumulated
From the encounter.


And recall this simple prayer:

May everyone who touches, sees, hears, or remembers me
With Devotion, disdain or indifference
Be healthy wealthy and happy
May they practice skillfully and joyfully
May they accomplish Chenrezig in this life
And help many others do likewise
For truly that is the meaning of life.
Om mani padme hum

But wait, you could ask
What if that person becomes violent?
Darlings, that’s what the police are for.



And yes, it really is that simple.
OM MANI PADME HUM




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Lama Jigme

Become Buddha