“The opposite of anger is not calmness, its empathy.” ~ Mehmet Oz
Have you ever been in a situation involving another person where you thought to yourself, “You know, if they just worked harder they would be so much better off”
Maybe you exited from the highway and at the end of the ramp was a homeless person with a sign and you thought, “If you would stop begging and go look for a job, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
In practically every situation that involves others, we need to remember that we never know the whole story,
We Don’t Know…
We don’t know what they’ve experienced in their past, what they’re experiencing now, their mental capacity, how they think, what they think, or their background. Maybe they were abused, are a veteran with PTSD, or they might be developmentally challenged, special needs, etc.
We really don’t know anything about them and yet we judge them for not doing their best simply because it’s not our best.
In times like this, I find myself needing to regroup, step back, and say: “At this exact moment in time they are doing the best they can with what they have, regardless of what I think!”
Now some folks may disagree, and for those of you who do, please know that you will never fully understand what is going on inside the mind of anyone else.
You are only projecting your own inner thoughts and beliefs onto them.
Period, the end!
Someday…
Here’s what I know, someday (hopefully) you are going to be much older than you are today.
At that point in your life you will not hear as well, you will move slower, think slower, and forget things. You will repeat stories over and over and you will need help to do the things that you used to do by yourself from the time you were 3 years old.
You will have good days and you will have days when you feel like you can’t do anything right!
And on those not so good days you will be praying that the people around you see someone who in that exact moment in time is doing their very best! Even though the other person could do so much better.
Final Thoughts
Life has a funny way of giving you back exactly what you put out there…eventually!
Second, your best on any given day, is not nor will it ever be the same as anyone else’s.
And maybe, now more than ever, we all need a little more empathy!
