“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.” - George Bernard Shaw
Namaste: Is a customary Hindu manner of respectfully greeting and honoring a person or group.
“The Divine within me bows to the same Divine within you.”
Acknowledge: To accept, admit, or recognize something.
Compliment: An expression of esteem, respect, affection, or admiration.
Criticism: The expression of disapproval of someone or something.
Feedback: Compliment or criticism with the intent of improvement.
Indifference: Lack of care, concern, or sympathy.
Platitude: A statement or remark, especially with moral content, too often used to be interesting or thoughtful.
The word acknowledge has roots in the 15th and 16th centuries and is a combination of roots meaning "accord," "recognize," and "understand." Whereas knowledge is what you know, acknowledging is showing that you know.
An acknowledgement recognizes the whole of the individual, both their state of being and what they are doing. It does so in specific and evocative language experienced by both the giver and receiver. An acknowledgement is more a statement of a shared reality than a judgment.
While compliments, criticism and feedback may at times be useful communication tools, they are different from The Acknowledgement. Compliments, criticisms, and feedback are opinions and judgements laced with specific intent toward the recipient. The acknowledgement says I see you, I hear you, I am grateful. Conversely, the compliment, criticism or feedback says I judge you.
It is the human in us noticing and appreciating one another. Acknowledgements are small, almost unnoticeable, and powerful.
Indifference is the opposite of acknowledgement, or that lipstick on a pig, the platitude. Indifference is the manifestation of evil. It cannot subsist in an environment of caring, concern; acknowledgment.
“Kind words are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Teresa