NOTE FROM ROY: I know you signed up for a marketing and business newsletter.  Today’s issue is not that.  Today’s issue touches briefly on politics, humanity, war, and love.  If you don’t want that from me, just stop reading this now.  You can pick up where we left off tomorrow, in a special Tuesday edition of Mailbox Monday.  With that out of the way…

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

I find it hard to start writing this essay today.

Rainmaker, I spent most of the weekend, like many folks in the Western world especially, thinking about what happened in Paris.

And what had just happened in Beirut…  Which I was just as oblivious about as most of the Western world, until the Paris attacks brought these very similar attacks into the Western media discussion.

And about the constant state of attack that the people of Iraq are under, after the power vacuum the U.S. invasion created.

And about all the other victims of terrorism (religious and secular), mass casualties, and all violence around the world.

In the light of all of this I remembered an interesting point I heard years back, that ANY occupying force CREATES a terrorist resistance.

It’s a very fundamental human reaction that when someone comes into your home turf with guns a’ blazin’ and tries to run YOUR show, the very natural instinct is to fight back however you can.

And the tactics most often used by the everyday people who just want control of their own lives and communities are what are commonly associated with “terrorism.”

Yes, once radicalized, religion is often used as a tool to recruit others and as a justification for action.  Most religious texts can be conveniently reinterpreted to support nearly any twisted ideology you can come up with.  Nearly all religions have been “represented” by terrorists at one time or another in history.  But the religion doesn’t create the terrorist — as evidenced by the huge numbers of followers of every religion that do not become terrorists, because they don’t live in the type of occupied land that is the fertile breeding ground for terrorism.

Unfortunately we’re in a world full of meddlers — of cultural, economic, and military imperialists and occupiers.  And so we’re also in a world full of terrorists.

It all makes me very sad.

I keep thinking of the quote, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Sure, inaction and non-response won’t stop the violence today.  That’s ignorant and pollyannaish to believe.

But I hope today — even in the light of such an incredibly mournful tragedy — that you can find some love in your heart.

We need love today more than ever before.

We need to dedicate ourselves to creating a brighter future.  One based on a very simple principle…

“Treat others as you want to be treated.” 

Because how you treat others WILL come back around, at some point.

Be an entrepreneur.  Focus on creating value for your customers and the world.  Treat all your stakeholders — customers, employees, suppliers, etc. — as you would want them to treat you if your roles were reversed.  And try to form mutually-beneficial relationships with people from all backgrounds, cultures, and religions.

Will it stop this crap from happening?  No, probably not.

We’re all just one foot out of the jungle, and can be pretty savage beasts when put in certain situations.  (Google “Stanford Prison Experiment” if you don’t believe me.)

But it’s much harder to demonize someone you’re doing business with, that treats you well and that you treat well, than it is when you’re obsessed with “us versus them” and other divisive talk.

We’re living in an incredibly exciting time for humanity.  Innovation and technology are leading to a very bright future.

Let’s not kill ourselves off before we get there though, okay?

We’ll be back with our regular programming tomorrow.

For today, holding a little (or a lot of) love in your heart could be the breakthrough we all really need.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr

Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets