Understand

Wow ok so I had a life altering moment a few days ago. I'm not going to go into detail because it is not the detail of what happened that matters but the fact that it opened my eyes to what it means to "understand". I am an admittedly stubborn person I tend to have pretty strong beliefs that are in most cases immovable. This is both a gift and a curse because while often times my values keep me out of trouble, other times they keep me from truly viewing the world and its inhabitants as they really are.

So now back to this concept of understanding. What does it really mean to understand? So many times I say "I get it", "I understand", "I feel you", but do I really get it? I don't think so. Especially when it comes to passing judgement. Honestly I am not the type of person that judges people at all I am more the type to see something and say I'll never do that. I don't judge the person for doing it, but I will say that it is something that I myself will never do. Do you see the difference?

The thing is before you can say you will never do something, you have to understand the situation and understand why that person made the decision that they made. A hungry man's mentality is different from a full man's mentality. You might think that something is completely repulsive and against whatever you stand for, but, if your in a situation that calls for action your thought process will change, I guarantee it. Not to say this is a bad thing because it isn't but it can be a wake up call when you find yourself doing something you never thought you would. That's when growth happens. I feel that is when we really are maturing and learning. When our comfort zone is compromised and we are forced to take action based on the situation we are in.

So think on that. Seek first to understand, and then be understood. Understand why people do what they do before you attack them for what they did. Actually in all honesty I don't even know if it is possible to understand without the experience. Which essentially means that we should never judge. Since we cannot ever truly understand each other we should never be questioning other peoples ideals or actions. Right?

So at least that's how I feel about it. So the next time you see a homeless person don't question their drive or work ethic. They may be college educated and simply made one bad decision based on a difficult situation they were in. So be careful when you go around labeling people based on their choices in life. Because until you've been where they've been you wont understand why they made the decision they did.

Powerful thought. At least to me. And really that's the only opinion that matters, because as I said before this is MY space.