Before our last move, we heard this really great talk from a girl in our old ward. I couldn't remember the subject of her talk (Maybe charity? Or forgiveness? Something along the lines of being nice), but I remember listening to it from the mother's lounge and crying like a little baby.
She had moved to Utah just after a huge family tragedy and had spent the few months she had been in Orem trying to heal. Her talk was chock-full of poignant quotes from all kinds of notably nice people: Mother Teresa; the Dalai Lama; prophets through the ages. I was thinking about it this morning and this one quote kept coming back to me,
"Don't judge me. You could be me in another life, in another set of circumstances."
That is so compelling to me. I think as a culture, we sometimes get hung up on judgement. We don't like to feel looked down upon or criticized. We hope when we publicly blunder that people will take a walk in our shoes and be kind. At the same time, we believe actions have consequences. We try to discern between right and wrong. We try to exercise good judgement.
And sometimes we fail. Sometimes people seem weird or smelly, and we roll our eyes away from them and make hurtful gaggy noises--an action which neither displays kindness nor good judgement. I like this little quote, because it is a plea to give the benefit of the doubt and to treat others how you would want to be treated. It is simple, and maybe cliché, but good form. I like to hope that if I was being weird and/or smelly, people would try to be nice to me anyway. Maybe they would even be able to see my goodness despite those other things.
And what Sage dispensed this pearl of wisdom for our consideration tonight, Internet? Oh yes, that's right:
Sting.
Looks like I misjudged you, Desert Rain. (ah lay-ee- ah lay!) Thanks for your wisdom.
Sometimes a girl has to cry like a baby.
"Don't judge me. You could be me in another life, in another set of circumstances."
That is so compelling to me. I think as a culture, we sometimes get hung up on judgement. We don't like to feel looked down upon or criticized. We hope when we publicly blunder that people will take a walk in our shoes and be kind. At the same time, we believe actions have consequences. We try to discern between right and wrong. We try to exercise good judgement.
And sometimes we fail. Sometimes people seem weird or smelly, and we roll our eyes away from them and make hurtful gaggy noises--an action which neither displays kindness nor good judgement. I like this little quote, because it is a plea to give the benefit of the doubt and to treat others how you would want to be treated. It is simple, and maybe cliché, but good form. I like to hope that if I was being weird and/or smelly, people would try to be nice to me anyway. Maybe they would even be able to see my goodness despite those other things.
And what Sage dispensed this pearl of wisdom for our consideration tonight, Internet? Oh yes, that's right:
Sting.
Looks like I misjudged you, Desert Rain. (ah lay-ee- ah lay!) Thanks for your wisdom.
P.S. Friends. When did we stop taking pictures of giant head babies? Let's bring that good thing back.
P.P.S. Where did I lose my I [heart] Mom shirt to? Let's bring that back, too.
1 comment:
Here I am creeping up on your blog again. Oh how I do love your writing! And um I need to know the story behind these enormous baby heads that had me cracking up! Why those are some pictures to show your posterity!
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