There’s an old saying: “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

It seems most reasonable people would agree with the logic of that adage but many of us don’t wholly follow that wisdom.

We make exceptions for certain eye gouging. “After this one, I’ll be done. This person deserves it.” But we keep finding the exception rather than following the rule and blind ourselves to the teaching for a lifetime.

It’s like making the argument for more prisons or more nuclear power plants and following it with the exception “but not in my back yard.” You really don’t want to do your part.

We all have a part in curing the world’s myopia. It starts by eliminating the exceptions. Cleaning up our own little exceptional world is where to begin.

It’s like the famous hymn says, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

We can’t reach the goal by continually granting exceptions. Each exception pushes the finish line farther away until we reach a point that we can no longer see it.

If we only give lip service to “love thy neighbor,” we have talked ourselves into being blind for a lifetime.

Stop making exceptions (excuses) for scratching someone’s eyes out and start to see the world through the prism of “you and me.” It’s a common path that will let us all see.

All the best,

John