“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that
decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,
and a person humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them
become what they are capable of becoming.”
-GOETHE
Thanks to the Community Education Department of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital for sharing this piece.