Shoes – Day 25

There is a phrase, “before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.”  It is a great thought for how to treat other people and empathize. But we actually can’t ever walk in someone else’s shoes.  It’s impossible.  Even if we know the person well, we don’t actually know what they are thinking or feeling or experiencing.  We can grow up in the same household as someone else and still experience things very differently.  We really don’t know what someone else is struggling with or going through.

Despite all of this, we tend to make snap judgements about other people.  We put them in categories according to what we think of them.  Many of our judgements about others are actually based on our own feelings and experiences, and not as much on reality or the other person.  We project our own fears or hurts onto others because we don’t always know how to deal with our own.  

If we understand this, it hopefully helps us to be more aware of how we treat others.  We still naturally gravitate to people who make us feel comfortable.  It takes effort to spend time with people who are different in any way.  Yet, this is growth.  This is where we find out how very human “others” actually are.  It gives us a glimpse into the lives of those who are different.  If we do this, we might find we have more things in common than we thought.  We might even find we enjoy time with those who are not like us. 

Here’s the key for me:  Hatred is difficult when I’ve taken the time and effort to love.  I find it much more difficult to lump people into a group when I have taken the time to get to know folks in the “other” group.  I find I’m more compassionate and understanding.  I also find a lot of love from people who I would not normally spend time with.  

Our world is filled with plenty of hatred.  We can find hurt and meanness spewed everywhere.  We can make the difference when we choose to be different.  We can begin to see differently when we get to know others. We may not be able to walk in their shoes, but we can certainly walk with them on their journey.  We just might find humanity – in ourselves.  We just might meet Jesus there.  That’s where the Bible always said he was, on the other side.  We might find our true selves and him if we are willing to go.