Somewhere recently I saw a message that went something like this: "Treat everyone you meet with kindness for every person is dealing with something sad, difficult or painful—even though you may not know that from seeing them." I wish I could remember the exact words. But I hope you get the idea.
It is a good reminder to me. If you're at all like me, you may look at others and think they haven't a care in the world. They seem to have life so together—and it appears that they live on easy street! We need to know it simply isn't so. Everyone, absolutely everyone, has sadness, pain and challenges.
We have only to look at the lives of the rich and famous. Often we think their lives are so glamorous. Yet how many times do we hear on the news stories about drug addictions, murder, betrayals and other mayhem in their lives? Would we want to change place? Probably not.
Each one of us is good at wearing masks and hiding our pain, so we can't tell by looking at others that they're suffering or hurting. We are each also prone to lashing out at others or having our pain come out sideways in our relationships and dealings with other people.
Knowing this, I'm trying to take a look at my behavior and treat everyone I meet with kindness. I so want to remember this—and respond in loving ways rather than reacting in anger or negative ways to things that happen in my daily life.
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