Life is so often a matter of perspective. It is as we are able to transcend the limits of our paltry personal viewpoints that we are able to see things more clearly and able, then, to love more fully. Consider the story of the grocer who, after finding that her husband has been having an affair with another woman for several years, is overwhelmingly rude to the patrons she helps throughout her day. Now, as a patron, we may have the perspective that this woman is nothing more than a rude woman with little care for her job or even for human decency. And while our perspective would certainly be considered an accurate interpretation of our personal experience it would, in the end, be an incorrect one.
There is more to life than our personal experiences and far-more useful things than our own perspectives. One of the goals in love is to get beyond your own perspective to not only see the others but, even more so, to cherish theirs more than our own. This is the very essence of "Love thy neighbor as thyself." We would do well to take time throughout our days to truly consider the plights of those around us, if only so as to help us empathize and love. To read another's story can go a long way to loving them wherever that story may be currently leaving them.
The end goal here is love: that we would love others as we love ourself. Truthfully considering the reality of another's narrative will go far in informing us as to who they are and why they are that way. This is, to be sure, a difficult thing to do when we ourselves are so blinded by whatever predicament or emotional state that may be currently fogging our vision. Let us, however, strive to love God with hearts of humility and honesty just as we strive to love others by putting ourselves into their shoes.
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