Your Picture My World
No matter how ‘real’ we are on social media or even in small groups, with our friends, no one can actually know what another person’s world is like.Your picture, might not be what my world is really like.
Your Picture
People look at a picture, a moment in time and form an opinion. They don’t know if you suffered abuse, have some invisible disease, relive the trauma of child sexual abuse, or suffered the loss of a loved one and if they do, they cannot comprehend the depth of that pain for another person.
I suppose that’s why marriages fall apart and family members don’t speak to each other, churches have become social gathering places and forget about close neighborhoods. Have we lost the art of compassion? We know our own pain, how often we feel misunderstood, judged by standards we cannot meet, subject to ridicule.
Yet, our tendency is to perpetuate the same pain on others. Some of us swear at the erratic driver in front of us. Or snarl at the clerk who hasn’t got a clue about customer service or even how to use the tools to do their job. So many people complain about the doctor’s office, the school, the government, and virtually everyone at one time or another.
We are spirits – eternal. We have a soul; our mind, our free will, and our emotions. Each of us lives in a body, so we can interact with the rest of our environment and the world around us.
This World
Our spirits recognize the idea of constant and continuous transition. Nothing about this world is absolutely stagnant. Everything, including us, is in a state of flux. As we progress through ages and stages, we grow in some areas, we weaken in others, we build and we break down.
We have been conditioned by the explosion of knowledge and the massive amount of media input to allow our emotions to drive us. This is a backward state. Our mind, taking cues from our spirits, should be what decides the direction of our day, our week, and our lives.
Reason and intellect are pushed aside by emotions. Purpose is an afterthought to so many people.
You and I are here for a purpose. We have the ability to tap into that purpose and live a fulfilling life that brings goodness into the earth. You and I are not merely biological creatures subject to base demoralizations.
Human dignity is only restored by compassion.
So what, if the clerk doesn’t get you out the door in two minutes? Your picture of her at the moment doesn’t match her world. She is more than the moment.
The homeless man on the street or the mom and two kids living in someone’s garage deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion just as much as a doctor, lawyer, CEO, or chef. The strung-out drug addict in the ER deserves to be recognized as a person, ever changing, not as if they are a picture of all that is their life.
Our World
Our lives are much too complex to look at another person and size them up and put them on a frame. To say, “Oh, I know that one.” You don’t. You can’t. Your picture is not my world.
Our Creator requires that we love one another. Extending human dignity is the beginning. If we are mindful of the inherent dignity of others, we will be compassionate at all times, not just when we feel like it.
It’s so cool, that we can mentally step outside of ourselves and think about what we are thinking about. We can decide with our minds, act accordingly with our wills, and manage our emotions.
I’d love to read about a time when you saw a person and recognized that they were more than the picture you had envisioned or perhaps a time when you were shown unusual compassion.