Do People Really Suck?

Life doesn’t always go the way we want it to. There is this thing called ‘other people’s viewpoints’. They affect us every day. Other people’s viewpoints, just like our own, are complex things. Each of us has our own understanding of the world. We have each learned and experiences different things that help us to form an understanding of ourselves, our environment and others. Some of us have learned about psychology, and some of us have not. Some of us have learned about psychology and have been brave enough to apply it to ourselves instead of just using it to describe those in our world. Most of us have not done this. This can make things frustrating, but we can instead remember that because of the different self education and willingness or unwillingness to see ourselves clearly and take responsibility for ourselves, we might not come to a place where all our desires will flow easily in the direction that we had hoped. Instead of being angry at one another over this fact, instead of writing it off with a "people suck" attitude, we can take a closer look at the situation. Is compassion for each other a possibility instead? Can we have compassion for ourselves? This life is not an easy journey. Can we acknowledge that and get to know ourselves better so we can better understand each other? Because, when we know and understand ourselves better, understanding of others happens naturally. When we become gentle and forgiving of ourselves and see our own flaws, we will have a better chance of remaining gentle and forgiving of others, no matter what the situation.

-Janice M. Burke

man releasing sparrow

Image by PaaZ PG from Unsplash