G'day Blogtastic World!
It can be so easy to dismiss someone else's pain, emotional, physical or whatever. It is so easy to compare what someone goes through to yourself or to somebody else and to judge them on their experience of pain. It is so easy to see someone struggle through a painful experience and dismiss it as lesser to your own experience, and allow yourself to continue to wallow in your own self-pity and misplaced pride as to how strong you are as to go through something you deem worse, in a state that you deem better than them.
But that is not strength. Yes, to go through painful experiences while managing to hold yourself together takes strength, and I do not wish to take that away from anybody. But true strength is using those experiences, using those emotional, or painful times that you've experienced personally, to relate to and to empathise.
Just because someone is upset, angry, emotional for a reason that you don't agree with doesn't change the fact that they are going through emotions, emotions anyone can relate to. What's important to remember is that people experience things differently, this does not make one person weak and one person strong, it makes them the very thing that everyone prides themselves on, being different.
So maybe instead of judging someone for their emotions, instead of deeming their state unworthy of the cause, show compassion, show empathy, show them that they should not be embarrassed of the way that they experience emotion. Instead of sneering that someone's being over-dramatic, maybe that they enjoy the attention, try to understand that there could be reasons behind it that are so complex that it is wrong of you to assume it can be so shallow. And even if it is shallow, what is the harm in simply showing a little compassion.
On the other side of the coin there are certain experiences that you can't possibly relate to, that are simple to dismiss as over-dramatic or made-up simply because you don't know what it feels like. It is strange that as humans we seem to be more inclined to dismiss what we can't relate to personally, than to take others' words for it.
So it is a challenge, against our very nature even, to simply take someones word for the pain, physical or otherwise, that they are feeling, without having experienced it ourselves. However, it is a challenge that I think everyone should, and I certainly intend to, try and overcome, so that instead of judging or dismissing people we can help them get better through listening and compassion. Sometimes it's something that you just can't and may never be able to understand, but it's enough to just listen and show that you care.
I say this from personal experience, this, if anything, is a little message to remind myself that I cannot judge other peoples experience from my own. If, as people, our biggest asset is that we're different, diverse, how can I judge someone for experiencing something differently to me, for having a different reaction. I far too easily dismiss someone else's pain to allow myself the satisfaction to continue to wallow in my own. Just as beauty is, pain is in the eye of the beholder, and I'd have to be a (for lack of a better word) asshole to judge what someone finds beautiful just as what someone finds painful.
I think we all need a reminder every now and then, too just not be an asshole.
-Emsy
It can be so easy to dismiss someone else's pain, emotional, physical or whatever. It is so easy to compare what someone goes through to yourself or to somebody else and to judge them on their experience of pain. It is so easy to see someone struggle through a painful experience and dismiss it as lesser to your own experience, and allow yourself to continue to wallow in your own self-pity and misplaced pride as to how strong you are as to go through something you deem worse, in a state that you deem better than them.
But that is not strength. Yes, to go through painful experiences while managing to hold yourself together takes strength, and I do not wish to take that away from anybody. But true strength is using those experiences, using those emotional, or painful times that you've experienced personally, to relate to and to empathise.
Just because someone is upset, angry, emotional for a reason that you don't agree with doesn't change the fact that they are going through emotions, emotions anyone can relate to. What's important to remember is that people experience things differently, this does not make one person weak and one person strong, it makes them the very thing that everyone prides themselves on, being different.
So maybe instead of judging someone for their emotions, instead of deeming their state unworthy of the cause, show compassion, show empathy, show them that they should not be embarrassed of the way that they experience emotion. Instead of sneering that someone's being over-dramatic, maybe that they enjoy the attention, try to understand that there could be reasons behind it that are so complex that it is wrong of you to assume it can be so shallow. And even if it is shallow, what is the harm in simply showing a little compassion.
On the other side of the coin there are certain experiences that you can't possibly relate to, that are simple to dismiss as over-dramatic or made-up simply because you don't know what it feels like. It is strange that as humans we seem to be more inclined to dismiss what we can't relate to personally, than to take others' words for it.
So it is a challenge, against our very nature even, to simply take someones word for the pain, physical or otherwise, that they are feeling, without having experienced it ourselves. However, it is a challenge that I think everyone should, and I certainly intend to, try and overcome, so that instead of judging or dismissing people we can help them get better through listening and compassion. Sometimes it's something that you just can't and may never be able to understand, but it's enough to just listen and show that you care.
I say this from personal experience, this, if anything, is a little message to remind myself that I cannot judge other peoples experience from my own. If, as people, our biggest asset is that we're different, diverse, how can I judge someone for experiencing something differently to me, for having a different reaction. I far too easily dismiss someone else's pain to allow myself the satisfaction to continue to wallow in my own. Just as beauty is, pain is in the eye of the beholder, and I'd have to be a (for lack of a better word) asshole to judge what someone finds beautiful just as what someone finds painful.
I think we all need a reminder every now and then, too just not be an asshole.
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| A reminder from Monty Python that, while you might feel like 'tis but a scratch,' another man might feel as though their arm's been chopped off. |
-Emsy
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