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Some
people do things completely differently from the way you
would do them. It does not mean that they are right
or that you are wrong. It means that people are
different. There are things that people say which
you would probably say in a different way, at a different
time. It does not mean that people are wrong to
speak up, to speak out, or to speak their minds. Nor
does it mean that you are wrong for choosing not to do so.
It means that people are different.
Different
is not right or wrong. It is a reality.
Differences become problems only when we choose to measure
ourselves by our difference in an effort to determine who
is right and who is wrong.
It is
not loving, healthy or necessary to make people wrong for
what they do, what they say, or the way in which they do
it or say it. Nor is it self-affirming to feel wrong
when you see things differently, do things in a different
way or express a difference of opinion. All people
are different from one another. Our different points
of view shape our vantage point and our vision.
Where we sit is a function of where we have sat.
What we can see is a function of what we have
seen.
No one
person's experience, point of view or view point is more
accurate, more acceptable, more righteous than another.
It is simply different. Our differences sometimes
make agreement difficult to achieve. They should
never make us feel wrong. Nor should they lead us to
believe that what others believe is wrong.
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Until
today, you may have questioned, opposed, resisted or even
detested differences. Just for today, open your
heart. Be willing to embrace different points of
view, different points of view, different habits,
different responses, different opinions and the
differences that exist between yourself and others.
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People
may be said to resemble not the bricks of which a house is
built,
but the pieces of a picture puzzle, each differing in shape,
but matching
the rest, and thus bringing out the picture.
Felix Adler |
