Not like me - H

One of the most useful lessons I've learned and am always reminded of is that not everyone is like me, that not everyone thinks like me, reacts to a situation like me, likes and dislikes the same things I do, has the same values that I do, deals with life in the same way I do, has the same sense of ettiquette that I do, defines things in the same way I do, etc. and it's okay. It may seem like it's common sense, but I don't think so. I think more often than not, we tend to think that the others are wrong and need to change. It's hard to recognize that there's neither a right nor wrong, that these are simply differences and that maybe it would be better to try to understand another's actions while looking through the appropriate lens than to assume that the other is in some way wrong, than to demand the other to change. Demanding change only leads to conflict and resentment. It's not that we need to agree with what other people do or how they think. We obviously live, think, and are a certain way b/c it's what we think is best, right, and good, but do we realize that there are probably a lot of people out there that probably disagree with us? Most things are not black and white...especially those things for which we have set our own, human standards. Who can really say what is right and wrong except the One who created this world?

I tend to have pretty high standards and expectations of other people. This is coupled with the fact that I generally like to follow a set of rules and like to have things done a certain way. My college pastor told me though, that unless I let go of my standards and expectations of others, that I would constantly be disappointed and have no friends. (He was a little more tactful than that, but that was the short of it.) That really made a lot of sense to me and has changed my life forever.