Don't judge. Simply accept. Not so simple at first. Like most other things in life. A simple idea to initially grasp but difficult to put into practice. Instead of something being to your liking or not try and let things simply be. No commentary. I think about this constantly. In the midst of a situation that I feel uncomfortable in I try and take that big step back and just take it for what it is. Without my added commentary. Without forming an opinion. My opinion is not the reality of the situation. My opinion is not the facts. The screaming child at the table next to me does not have bad parents because of he is screaming. He is just a child screaming. His parents have nothing to do with it. But they do have something to do with it in that they did nothing to quiet the child or to explain to him that it is not polite to scream at the breakfast table in public. Perhaps where they are from it is not impolite to behave in such a way. I am trying to apply my rules to their situation. It doesn't work so I revert to judging them. Judging them by my rules. Rules that they might not know a thing about. How do you hold someone accountable to rules that they may not have any knowledge of? And I am not talking about heinous crimes such as murder, rape or physical hostility towards others. Yet in some places even these crimes are not held in the same regard as they are where I come from. It gets complicated when it is acceptable to hit someone in some part of the world yet it is unacceptable to raise your hand to another in my part of the world. And what happens when people from both places congregate in a third part of the world. A place where we are all strangers. Whose rules then apply? Do local rules and customs always override what we bring with us?
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