Oh the Irony of It All...

So, we're sitting around my parents dinner table back in Cali chatting it up with my little brother (ok, so he's not *little* anymore), his girlfriend, and a few others. We're discussing life, people, you know...just stuff. When my brother begins a rant about inconsiderate people, rude people, mean people. "I've had it with people who just don't care," He says.

Of course we all have a story to chime in with.

So then my husband (always the devil's advocate) says, "Yeah, but sometimes you gotta wonder what's going on in *those* people's lives. I mean maybe they had a bad day, lost their job, etc."

And in all seriousness my brother says, "I don't care about those people."

Of course we laughed at his "not caring about people who don't care". But in the irony of it all, there is truth. We'd all like to think that we're non-judgemental people, kind hearted, giving...but often others must meet a certain criteria to qualify. And as deep as we have to dig...I think we'd all find that there is that bit of *prejudice* in all of us. My hope is not to be perfect, because I'll never arrive there, but this year I hope to dig a little deeper and find out where those little dusty corners of my heart are and see *those* people the way God sees them. It's about perspective.

I once heard someone say that if you have someone in your life who is *truly* hard to love, begin to picture them as they were as a child...see their innocense, see their heart before it was jaded, or hardened. How, why did they arrive at being such a jerk? On certain occasions this has helped me...and then again there's always that twinge in me that rises up and says, "What!?!!! You REPORTED me (sweet, kind, gentle, loving me) to the HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION?!!!! I thought we talked, I thought we worked it out in a neighborly fashion. We'd work it out and you'd still be able to skinny dip. But then you had to sneak in all commando like and measure my play yard (yes PLAY YARD...you know the thing for my CHILDREN!!!!) and file a complaint with the HOA. If you can't love the children who CAN you love?"

Jeez people. I've got a long way to go.