I Believe

If there's anything that's stuck with me over the last few years, it's Stephen M.R. Covey's quote "We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior." This single sentence has caused me to spend hours contemplating it's meaning, wondering about how I have personally judged others because of simple mistakes or dumb things they've said, and how I have gotten frustrated at others for being angry at me without truly knowing what i'm going through, or what I mean to say or do. Through this I have pondered how people change over time, and how we don't really know what any given person has gone through in their life when we encounter them.

There have been many times in my own life where the people I get to know are not at all what I initially believe them to be. I have come to know people who have struggled to do as best as they can, and it pains me to see others dismiss them with a passing swear, because of what they heard through the grapevine. I know people who have done nothing but try their very best, yet face daily challenges in their own home, a place that should be of comfort and warmth. I truly do believe that I have no right to judge a person unless I know exactly what they have combated in life. When I put myself in their shoes, I can empathize with them in a way I never could before. It is because of this that I harbor ill feelings towards very few people.

I also believe that there is a negative side to this as well. I face my own personal demons, ones that I would not reveal to even those closest to me, for fear that they would think differently of me in a way that would do more harm than good in any relationship I have or have had. Despite this, I feel as though my philosophy has come to make me a better person, because having a better understanding of human nature has caused me to think more positively about people I previously would have avoided, simply because they once said something regrettable months ago. Sometimes I'll snap back into the real world, and think about something: in our 70+ years on this earth, we will only ever see the world through our own eyes. And really, It becomes easy to loathe people we've spoken to only a few times in our existence. But once we open our eyes and see that every single person we've ever met, even if for a single moment when you pass them on the street, has faced years of challenges, we might decided their life is worth treating in the same way as our own.