It Starts With One

I have been thinking about this post for a few weeks. I have not had time sit down and write, but I have had lots of time to think. It all started a few weeks ago when the day could not possibly go right. I worked 11 hours straight, with an hour drive from my parent’s house, and another hour drive back home that night. So for 13 hours I had to deal with annoying customers, angry drivers and innocent animals in the middle of the road. While on my drive home that night I was thinking about something a friend told me; he said, “Something interesting about the scriptures is the different perspectives.” I was thinking about this when the song You Are Loved by Josh Groban began to play on my iPod. I sat there and had to let my thoughts mix together. Every person around me is going through something, whether they have had a bad day, a friend pass away, a breakup, maybe a surprise party. Whatever it is, everyone’s perspective and moods are different. This also makes everyone’s choices different according to their experiences and the events in their life.

                I have met a lot of people who have made poor decisions in their life, or what I believe to be poor decisions. At this point I have a crossroad, should I judge the person on their poor decision? Or should I try to help them out of the situation they are in? This is kind of an extreme example. Here is something that happened with my nephew, he is 5, he has been taught that smoking is bad for you; one day he was in the car with my sister and he saw someone smoking, he said, “Mom, that’s a bad man.” She had to correct him and say, “No, he is not a bad man.” My nephew is a simple example of judgment. How innocent it is for him, but the issue is if he grows up not being corrected the judgment only gets worse.

                In the society that I live in people are judged harshly on their outer appearances. Now I am not talking about how attractive they are or anything like that. What I am saying is if there is someone with a tattoo, body piercing, or even crazy hair styles people point and scoff at them. If someone does not fit the “Mormon” style they are almost considered an outcast. People have experienced different things, they may not believe what you believe but that does not make them a bad person. You should feel lucky that you have the beliefs you do, not hold yourself higher than them because of it.

                The main point of what I am trying to say is, you don’t know what people are struggling with, you don’t know what they have experienced in life and you don’t know what kind of person they are from the outside. I have a friend I met a few days ago. We actually have been chatting and texting for a while. We hung out a few nights ago. I consider this individual a BEST friend, just because we have been chatting and joking for so long. The thing that I love about this is he is someone I would have avoided. He has a tattoo on his left arm, piercings in his ears, and just seems a little wilder than I am. (Yes I know these are my judgments.) The thing is we have a lot of fun when we hang out. I would have let his physical appearances stop me from making an awesome friendship.

                Like I said before, I have been thinking about this for a while, and because of that I have tried it out. I have tried really hard not to make quick judgments about anyone. I feel free, I feel like talking to everyone has become simpler. If I start to judge someone in my head, I quickly try to think of something positive about the person, and then I tell them. It is always good to hear a compliment even if it is from a stranger. This world is too negative, we need to bring in more positive feelings, and judgment is not a positive feeling. Let the positive start with you.

Dr.K

(Song: Starts with One; Artist: Shiny Toy Guns)