Two days ago, someone whose balanced judgement I respect, said something to me that turned on a lightblulb: "Simone, you have to deal with people as they are, not as you think they ought to be."
This is what, I suppose, is at the crux of maturity (a highly mis-used word, in my opinion!) - an elusive goal which I am challenged every day to reach. It is certainly easier if one acknowledges feet clay and other disaapointment and shortcomings, thereby dealing with - and it would be ok if everyone was equally laissez-faire. But the truth of the matter is that almost everyone - myself included - demands better. Why can't you be more patient/mature/understanding/charitable...?
Other people are constantly judging us, fairly and unfairly - yet are so unwilling to see the splinter in their own eye. I suppose it is a coping mechanism, otherwise the shock of really looking at ourselves might be too much to bear for some of us.
Well, here's what I think - we can either sit back and accept the world as it is, and shrug our shoulders in resignation, or we can demand a better world. How do we progress if we take an accepting attitude? How can things get better unless people see that gaps between what is and what might be, and look to address the gap? What hope is there for humanity if we don't look at the possibilities and try to get there? Surely this is what is at the heart of the human spirit - the heart of hope?
It is easier to sit back and say 'Ah well...". It is easier to sidestep our responsibilities as thinking, envisioning human beings, and focus on our own workaday issues. But if we all do that, what hope is there for the future of the human identity? Surely, when we were created, we were created to be more than just a surviving species?
As human beings, as people, we have a destiny to fulfill, and each of us must seek to make a difference in our own ways, in all our encounters. It is not easy - in fact, it is usually bloody hard especially when no-one wants to hear you and brands you 'difficult' or 'demanding'. But it is our right, our inheritance, that we must be continually driven to do so. We owe it to all those who have striven before us, to ourselves and people striving today, and most of all, to our children and the generations who will bear the legacy of everything we do (and do not do) today.
This is what, I suppose, is at the crux of maturity (a highly mis-used word, in my opinion!) - an elusive goal which I am challenged every day to reach. It is certainly easier if one acknowledges feet clay and other disaapointment and shortcomings, thereby dealing with - and it would be ok if everyone was equally laissez-faire. But the truth of the matter is that almost everyone - myself included - demands better. Why can't you be more patient/mature/understanding/charitable...?
Other people are constantly judging us, fairly and unfairly - yet are so unwilling to see the splinter in their own eye. I suppose it is a coping mechanism, otherwise the shock of really looking at ourselves might be too much to bear for some of us.
Well, here's what I think - we can either sit back and accept the world as it is, and shrug our shoulders in resignation, or we can demand a better world. How do we progress if we take an accepting attitude? How can things get better unless people see that gaps between what is and what might be, and look to address the gap? What hope is there for humanity if we don't look at the possibilities and try to get there? Surely this is what is at the heart of the human spirit - the heart of hope?
It is easier to sit back and say 'Ah well...". It is easier to sidestep our responsibilities as thinking, envisioning human beings, and focus on our own workaday issues. But if we all do that, what hope is there for the future of the human identity? Surely, when we were created, we were created to be more than just a surviving species?
As human beings, as people, we have a destiny to fulfill, and each of us must seek to make a difference in our own ways, in all our encounters. It is not easy - in fact, it is usually bloody hard especially when no-one wants to hear you and brands you 'difficult' or 'demanding'. But it is our right, our inheritance, that we must be continually driven to do so. We owe it to all those who have striven before us, to ourselves and people striving today, and most of all, to our children and the generations who will bear the legacy of everything we do (and do not do) today.
posted by Simone @ 1:29 PM
<< Home