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Acquaintance softens prejudice
Posted by AundraSomething within me will not let me rest with a bad opinion of another person. Dislike is for me unpleasant sensation. It distresses me to hear someone criticize another person and I feel uneasy when I join in. Hatred seems to be its own punishment, but something in me rejoices in a newfound appreciation. As an act of faith, as a response to something that feels very deep in me, I believe this about other human beings :
Regardless of their present mood (which I wish to respect) they want to be my friend. For no other reason than I am also human, they want to feel love for me and want me to feel love for them. Deep within them they want to be close to me and to all living things. This faith does not require that I do anything overt, it requires only that I not forget.
One thing has become quite clear: All aquaintances are passing. Therefore I want to make the most of every contact. I want to quickly get close to the people I meet because my experience has shown we won’t be together long.
People in cars passing by my car, people walking past me on a street, someone leaving a shop as I enter, Dad coming through the front door from work, neighbor getting his mail as I get mine, and with each one of these little brushings-against, these encounters big and small, I leave something behind. If I can feel what I pick up from them, certainly on some level they can feel my state also. What, then, is the trail behind me composed of? Does not this “gift to the world,” by it’s very enormity, outweigh all others?