Making Plans
9 hours ago
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Cutting people some slack
How many people at age 50 have the exact same beliefs and attitudes that they had a 20? Hopefully, 30 years of living caused at least some growth and development.
Do you ever wonder of your younger self would have gotten along with your older self? Would younger you have been appalled? I laugh at some of the things that were important to me back then.
Most of us make peace with ourselves. There's only room for so much regret in a person's life. The best thing is to cut ourselves some slack. We were more ignorant then than were are now. If we are really being honest with ourselves, somewhere down the road older self will be amazed at the stupidity that take for wisdom today.
It's hard enough to forgive ourselves for ignorance and wrong headed beliefs. Cutting other people some slack is even harder. So I try to tell myself that I'm meeting people who are in a different place than I am right now. The present is just a snapshot, a tiny slice of a person's life. The guy who might be a bozo today, might turn out to be an all right fellow a bit further down the road.
For me, that's why solving arguments by killing people is such a waste. Years from now, your enemy might have become your friend. His wrong headed beliefs might change. Besides, maybe you are the one with wrong headed beliefs. A little humility, a willingness to accept the possibility, goes a long long way.
-Sixbears
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Whether it was about worry or fussing with someone, my dad's philosophy was always "Is it going to matter 50 years from now?"
ReplyDeleteGood philosophy.
DeleteHard as it is to forgive others, it's harder to make peace with your own self.
ReplyDeleteMaking lots of sense today, Sixbears!
Thanks Hermit! It's hard, but worth it.
DeleteWhen I was young and still under the influence of the rose colored smoke that my liberal teachers had blown on me, before I got my first big paycheck and wondered where a lot of the money went, long before a dollar won't buy a soda, I voted for Jimmy Carter. It still hurts to say it.
ReplyDeleteI voted for Jimmy Carter and I'm still proud of that fact.
DeleteWhat hurts are the cuts to many programs by Reagan that Jimmy started which would have born tremendous results by now.
Ie: Solar for one...
I was 18, about to vote in my first election. Jimmy Carter can to my High School. He did a poor job answering questions HS students asked him, so I never voted for him. Of course, I hadn't meet too many national politicians at that point in my life.
DeleteIn the long run, I probably voted against my best interests.
Reagan killed the solar industry -we would be world leaders by now, instead of buying solar panels from Germany and China.
We don't see things as they are.
ReplyDeleteWe see things as we are...
True words indeed!
DeleteThat's the wisdom that comes with age. When I was younger I wondered is I was seen as an a$$hole. My older self doesn't wonder any more. My rural upbringing leaves me unable to deal with city folks. They are like something from another planet.
ReplyDeleteAt least some of us gain a little wisdom. Some people just get old.
DeleteI tend to avoid cities, but I was raised rural too.
So true, I've eaten crow so much I fart feathers sometimes . . .
ReplyDeleteFunny!
Delete