Cater
I will consider the giving of a fair exchange for
money or services rendered not the subject of my paper today.
From
http://www.answers.com/topic/cater, the definitions of “cater” I
will use are the following:
Thesaurus: cater
verb
- To treat with indulgence and often overtender care: baby, coddle, cosset, indulge, mollycoddle, overindulge, pamper, spoil. See treat well/treat badly/treat.
- To comply with the wishes or ideas of (another): gratify, humor, indulge. See resist/yield.
I checked with spirit and determined that I am not likely to be involved in a catering position with myself or others. The closest I get to catering to myself is when I groan when I am exhausted and have to be active. Fortunately, I do not groan when others, except my wife Judy, is around. Instead of cleansing thoroughly as stated in “Action” on this website, www.davidhakim.com, or tuning into my spirit as reflected in a mirror (saying to myself, “I see my spirit,” as mentioned in “Discernment”), I tend to breathe deeply. However, Judy warns me that I may hyperventilate.
All of us tend to cater toward ourselves and
others, but many of us catch ourselves and maintain our self-respect,
usually with a simple “I apologize.”
I realize, however, that
self-respect is a judgmental or somewhat negative word, but not
catering to oneself or others assists one in feeling good about
himself/herself.
One can easily get a reputation of catering through hearsay and then it seems the world tends to take advantage of us.
Adaptability is the key to success in life. Giving oneself wholly to another’s indulgence is slavery.
Fear of loss of another’s affection or a desire to
gain affection from another can cause one
to cater. Some will deny
affection if one does not submit to their desire for you to cater to
them. Francisco Coll, the
founder of the
Circumstances of life dictate the tendency of an individual to cater to another.
Catering to another can lead to co-dependency, a lack of freedom and poor health. I frequently have to remind others not to smoke around me because I get sick from smoke. I also warn others that I will not clean up the filth they leave behind when they smoke.
If I cater I would limit my opportunity in life, because catering is time-consuming.
Loss of identity results when one caters to another.
If one is to become outstanding, he must not cater to others.
One can be magnanimous toward others without catering to them.
A good example of a creature that wants people to cater to her is my dog Mia. She will not eat regular dog food (if I attempted to restrict her diet to dog food, she would vomit), so I cook brown rice pilaf mixed with beef, yellow raisins, almond slices, pine nuts and mushrooms and freeze it in many containers. I am not exactly catering to her by doing so, because Judy and I both love my recipe of rice pilaf!
David C. Hakim
October 27, November 10, 2008