No matter how powerful I feel in my daily life, or how strong and thriving my community seems to be, seeing another news report of a mass shooting roll across the screen makes my heart skip a beat.
I feel powerless to stop the tide of this trend where people unleash their anger in violence as a statement to the world.
I think about what lies ahead for us as a nation, and I wonder if it’s possible to move past this stage to a new season where people choose to respond thoughtfully to conflict instead of acting out of emotion.
But how do we inject the idea of restraint and consideration of others into public consciousness?
We can start by teaching emotional intelligence in schools, workplaces, and organizations. We can teach people they have the ability to maintain control of their emotions, instead of the other way around.
As individuals, we can practice emotional intelligence every day by trying to understand someone who disagrees with us instead of making a snarky comment or pushing blindly past the person as if our agenda is the only one that matters.
Demonstrating a high level of respect for every human we connect with will help us raise the bar as a society, establishing a new normal where people are expected to reign in their impulsive behavior which might negatively impact others. This is something each of us can do to make our world a safer place.
I’m Kristi Correa, and that’s my perspective.