Dear friends,
Have you ever found yourself in disagreement with someone?
And in that situation,
Have you believed yourself to be in the right?
Did you find it difficult to see the situation from another angle?
Was it a challenge to try to put yourself in the shoes of the other person?
And how often has that other person found it difficult to understand where you were coming from?
It happens.
Thankfully,
Sometimes the differences are short-lived.
But sometimes these differences and antagonisms can give rise to feelings of ill-will.
They generate emotions that can consume both parties for weeks,
Months and even years.
We all long for peace in the world.
But often we are reluctant to take the simpler steps.
The simpler steps that are required in order to establish peace in our own little corner of the world.
Is this due to pride?
Stubbornness?
Bullheadedness?
Intransigence?
Whatever.
Or does it matter?
Because whatever the reason,
We need to approach things differently.
We all need to make a move in order to make up.
Just imagine the amount of energy wasted by keeping up such grievances.
Some of us will have come across situations,
Even in families,
Where some members refuse to talk to other members.
For years.
Some even carrying silly quarrels right to the very end.
To the grave.
When it comes to settling disputes,
We don't have to love one another.
We don't have to be best buddies.
We don't even have to like one another.
But we do need to try to understand each other.
That understanding can come about if we try to place ourselves in the other person's shoes.
If we make an effort to see the situation from the other person's point of view.
You may have come across a reflection,
Judge Softly.
This was written by Mary T.
Latrap in 1895.
Judge Softly.
Pray don't find fault with the man that limps or stumbles along the road.
Unless you have worn the moccasins he wears or stumbled beneath the same load,
There may be tears in his soles that hurt.
Though hidden away from view,
The burden he bears placed on your back may cause you to stumble and fall too.
Don't sneer at the man who is down today.
Unless you have felt the same blow that caused his fall or felt the shame that only the fallen know.
You may be strong,
But still the blows that were his unknown to you in the same way may cause you to stagger and fall too.
Don't be too harsh with the man that sins or pelt him with words or stone or disdain.
Unless you are sure you have no sins of your own and it's only wisdom and love that your heart contains.
For you know if the tempter's voice should whisper as soft to you as it did to him when he went astray,
It might cause you to falter too.
Just walk a mile in his moccasins before you abuse,
Criticize and accuse.
If just for one hour you could find a way to see through his eyes instead of your own muse.
I believe you'd be surprised to see that you've been blind and narrow-minded,
Even unkind.
There are people on reservations and in the ghettos who have so little hope and too much worry on their minds.
Brother,
There for the grace of God go you and I.
Just for a moment slip into his mind and traditions and see the world through his spirit and eyes before you cast a stone or falsely judge his conditions.
Remember to walk a mile in his moccasins and remember the lessons of humanity taught to you by your elders.
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave in other people's lives.
Our kindnesses and generosity.
Take the time to walk a mile in his moccasins.
Take the time to walk a mile in his moccasins.
Words of Mary T.
Latrop When we go to the trouble of placing ourselves in the other person's position if we try to see things from an alternative angle we open the possibility of reconciliation.
The chance to enter a new world of understanding.
The opportunity to build a bridge.
To re-establish a little peace and happiness in our corner of the world.
And isn't that where peace and happiness begins?
So let each of us try to do whatever we can and wherever we can to encourage the resolution of disputes,
The building of bridges.
Working to encourage the redirection of wasted energy to useful purposes.
The longest life is shorter than we can ever imagine.
It can be a bitter passage if we allow it to be.
But it can be a heavenly trek if we approach it with love and understanding.
Namaste
