Basic Guideline of Universal Stewardship

1. Be prepared.
2. Do not waste, invest.
3. Be helpful & kind.
4. Think, speak, and do no malice.

These four guidelines allows anyone to live a flourishing life: be prepared, so you are ready for what life requires; do not waste—invest by preserving, developing, and making productive use of the resources, opportunities, abilities, and potential entrusted to you; be helpful and kind by using what you have to benefit both others and yourself, while treating people with consideration; and think, speak, and do no malice, avoiding intentional harm to or malicious deprivation of others. They are simple enough for a child to remember, yet broad enough to guide a lifetime.

Only 5 things to do or follow.

1. 1. Love
      • Love creates transparency. Love creates clarity. Love transcends all. Express your love in thoughts or feeling, in words, in gestures, in deeds or in your conduct. Share the love. Don’t keep it inside. Never be ashamed to hug your loved ones. Go ahead and say it or write it: “I love you”. Love is to be shared and never to be tested.
      • Enjoy the love of your loved ones. Awaken the love that is inside you. Never allow hate, insecurity, hostility, animosity, atrocity, abomination or detestation drown the love inside you.
      • The need to belong or to unite is a catalyst that can’t be ignored. Temper your need to belong with LOVE. Love does not just apply towards others, it applies to yourself as the individual. Love should never be limited to people within your ideological circle, religion or family. Learn to love everything in this universe. Enjoy life. Enjoy your surroundings. Enjoy mother earth. Love transcends all.
      • Everything positive comes out of love. You can’t hope for anything if there is no love in your heart. Hatred does not ignite hope instead it feeds the desire for malicious destruction and deprivation.
      • Love must be nurtured. Love must develop and grow. To do so one must Care, be Open to communication, be respectful to allow Understanding.
      • When love is nurtured through Care, Openness, Respect, and Understanding, it creates the ultimate shield against malicious deprivation. Because when we love, we refuse to betray the trust of others. This is where Respect is locked in, transforming love into the lifelong guardian of our loyalty and stewardship.
   2. Share

      1. • Share your prosperity, share your abundance, share your knowledge, share your acquisitions and most of all share the love that is in your heart. Be kind. Kindness allows us to reach out. Kindness is a great way to communicate. Try to be helpful. Try to do something good for yourself and others. Be compassionate. Try not to tease or insult others. Share your abundance and be generous whenever possible.

         • Prosperity comes with work, you need focus and determination to follow and realize your goals, hopes and dreams. Hope is inherent in all of us. You can beat a person down but if he has a shred of hope in him, he will stand up and fight. Hope can lead a person to prosperity.

           • Prosperity is threefold: Material prosperity, Intellectual prosperity, and spiritual prosperity. The acquisition of material and intellectual prosperity does not guarantee us happiness. Reaching for spiritual prosperity touches happiness, it touches love. For humanity to prosper, we must share, we must be involved. Humans are born selfish! Parents and Adults must teach children to share. As you chip away at your “rock of selfishness”, sharing becomes easier. Conversations and relationships become less & less difficult.

         • Develop what you can but with the attitude of sustainable development for posterity. Harvest the bounty of the world but always let nature return to its living splendor. You are the steward of your body and soul and of this universe. Develop your body, your mind and soul. But never maliciously deprive others or this universe in the process of your development.

           Having the ability to SHARE embedded in our soul: Makes us: generous, kind, helpful, merciful, compassionate, amiable and tender. Be compassionate and try to alleviate the needy, the suffering, the sorrow and misfortune of others. Sharing makes the universe a better place. Learn to share the cheapest and most abundant human positive commodity, the SMILE. A smile is irresistible, compelling, persuasive, contagious, and catching. A simple smile can change the life of an individual to help build a kinder and braver universe to fight evil.

           Be generous, kind and helpful but never let this be under pressure or coercion from others. Let this come from your heart. Generosity or being helpful must not be a result of an incentive to being rewarded for the “good deed”. It must not come from bribery to be reciprocated. Give with and from the goodness of your heart without expecting reciprocation.

           Giving as a result of guilt without atonement is simply a way “buying” personal satisfaction.

           If we have LOVE and RESPECT in our hearts and we are willing to SHARE that love and respect, the good will always triumph over evil.

           The instinct for survival and the freedom of choice combined with the inherent need to belong breeds vanity in every human being.

           We need to discipline our thoughts, words and deeds so we may successfully do these 3 no nos as listed below:

   3. Do not Cheat

      • One of the hardest things to do is to remain honorable when our desires tempt us. Almost instinctively, we try to cheat when trying to attain or crave something we do not have. But we must recognize that to cheat is to begin the process of Betrayal.

        When we make promises that we do not keep, we cheat. When we take an oath that we do not intend to keep, we cheat. Every act of cheating is a mini-betrayal—a choice to maliciously deprive someone else of the fairness and honesty they deserve.

        We cannot be trustworthy or loyal when we cheat. When we cheat, we do not only lie to others; we lie to ourselves. By refusing the urge to cheat, even in the smallest things, a child learns the value of a bond. Once they understand that they will not “sell out” their integrity for a gain, the “Lock of Respect” is set. They realize that while cheating is a shortcut for the weak, Non-Betrayal is the strength of a true Steward. We must never allow the “cheat” to evolve into the ultimate malice: the betrayal of those who placed their lives or hearts in our hands.

   4. Do not Insult

      • • We learn to tease (insult) as children. When teased, children get very angry and they emotionally get hurt. As we grow to be adults we become experts at insulting each other. Battles, wars, and killings are started by simple insults. A person who insults another does not respect the other person. If you respect an individual or anything you will not insult. GIVE RESPECT. DO NOT EXPECT RESPECT.
        • Do not make a mockery of the shortcomings of others.
   5. Never maliciously Deprive
      • • • To maliciously take away, remove, deny, keep away, withhold from the enjoyment or possession. Malicious deprivation of life, communication, freedom, education, food, shelter, (basic needs), etc… When an individual is denied of certain privileges, not because he or she has done something wrong but because his/her culture or society simply dictates it, is a form of deprivation.
            • To kill in self-defense, for security or for sustenance and is not done in malice actually embraces love and sharing.
          • Malicious deprivation leads to jealousy. Jealousy leads to hate and sometimes to violent negative thoughts and deeds.
          • General deprivation can’t be avoided in our life. Just as chaos can’t be avoided in the universe. However, malicious deprivation must avoided, prevented, or terminated.

I am old now, yet I can’t master these 5 things that I came up with in 1969. I continue to hurt the people I love. But this does not mean that I have given up.

• Find atonement and repentance when you cheat, insult, or maliciously deprive others. The first step toward repentance is a sincere apology. From there, seek forgiveness—not only from those you have wronged, but also within yourself. Humble yourself by acknowledging your wrongdoing and making every effort to make amends. If forgiveness is granted, accept it with gratitude. If it is not, continue to live honorably. Do not become trapped by resentment, hatred, vengeance, or the desire to get even. Forgive others, but do not forget the lessons your experiences have taught you, so that the same mistakes are not repeated. At the end of each day, thank God for every experience, whether good or bad. Thank Him for your passions, for your humanity, and for the gift of emotions that allow you to learn, grow, and become a better person.
• Repentance and atonement are ultimately for the benefit of the offender. They are the means by which a person frees himself from the burden of guilt and begins the path toward becoming a better human being. An apology or act of penance may satisfy the offended person’s desire for justice, but it does not guarantee forgiveness or acceptance. When forgiveness from the one you have wronged is beyond your reach, continue your atonement by doing good for others and contributing positively to society. In time, sincere repentance transforms the heart. The desire for retribution fades, peace replaces bitterness, and the cycle of wrongdoing comes to an end.

• Our thoughts, words and deeds always have consequences. Ultimately,We will be held accountable for the positive or negative effects of our thoughts, words and deeds.

Remember these words:

• Do not Cheat. Do not Insult. Love and never maliciously deprive, share and be balanced and you will be ENLIGHTENED.

Franklin Maletsky

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