The Other Side

I was speaking with a friend recently about their children. This friend is older and as is common with age, they worry about their loved ones and what will become of them once my friend passes on. It’s not a fun thing to contemplate I imagine, and yet I know that one day I will do the same. In fact, I have these worries now, only I hope my timeline is much longer but then, who knows?

Anyhow, through the conversation I learned this worry stemmed from one child being bipolar and as such, they’ve been somewhat paralyzed in their own life and in regards to their own abilities. The other child (both are adults) is unsympathetic to their sibling’s plight. They feel their sibling is simply lazy and unmotivated to overcome their problems. I really don’t know what is the right view here, but in talking with my friend, I realized just how common this situation is. It is so very hard to put ourselves in others’ place and see things from the other side. I’m sure we’d solve many of the world’s problems if we were willing to do this a bit more. In the meantime, we can only try and hope we gain a better understanding of those around us. That makes us better people and sets the type of example we need to see more of in this world.

Happy writing this week!