Some food for thought today:
- What if the girl who seems standoffish is just shy?
- What if your friend who declined a movie invite is scrambling just to put food on the table?
- What if the friend you ran into who looked like crap is silently battling cancer?
- What if the friend you tell excitedly about your 3rd pregnancy has no reaction because she just had her 4th miscarriage?
I was a little sad this morning. All of these are things I’ve heard about recently with friends who felt hurt by someone or formed negative opinions of someone.
You can’t expect to know everything about everyone in your life. Sometimes inaccurate assumptions can cause an awful lot of pain – often unnecessarily.
Next time YOU find yourself in situations like these, remind yourself – you don’t necessarily know the whole story and it’s not necessarily anything about YOU. It’s real easy to take things at surface value without consideration of what may be happening below the surface.
The person who doesn’t have to deal with problems is pretty rare. We all have baggage. We all have shit we’re tackling. We all handle things differently. Not every one is open – even with those closest to us.
Give people a chance.
Too often the people we’re tempted to shut down on or ridicule are the ones that need someone the most. And that shy girl? She’s a wonderful girl may end up being your best friend if you meet her half way.
Your thoughts?
