Walk In Another Person’s Shoes

Are you a kid who cannot understand your parents? Do you often feel mistreated by someone? We sometimes do not learn the true story behind why someone treated us a particular way until later. You can quickly get a good understanding of the situation and have an easier time forgiving the other person by walking in his or her shoes.

If you are a kid, try to put yourself in your parents’ shoes. They sometimes restrict you from doing particular things or going to particular places out of fear.

Several years ago while I was a teenager, my family and I visited my grandmother in Cleveland, Ohio. After I came out of a place we visited, my father, who was sitting in our car, called me to sit in the car. I was upset and pouted because I was not allowed to walk around outside; consequently, I was punished. My grandmother later told me my father made me sit in the car due to fear. He was afraid because he and the rest of my family traveled around the neighborhood looking for me when I was a little boy. This experience demonstrates why parents are often overprotective toward their children.

Give teachers the benefit of the doubt. While I was a kid in school, I thought some of my teachers were mean. They sometimes yelled at the class or wrote students up to the office, including myself. I did not learn what teachers have to go through until I became a substitute teacher seven years ago. Teachers are under enormous pressure to educate the students and maintain a classroom environment that is quiet and conducive to learning.

Give the police the benefit of the doubt. You might sometimes have a bad experience with a police officer or see a video of the police pummeling a suspect but most police officers are good. Furthermore, they have a dangerous job that requires split-second decisions. The police often deal with people who attack or spit at them. The police often have to use force to subdue suspects who are throwing punches or using a weapon against them.

Forgive your friends for doing something stupid, especially if they are kids. A longtime friend dumped me after I was caught relieving myself on the school parking lot when I was a high school junior. Although what I did was unacceptable, I am human and I did not know I was breaking the law; furthermore, kids do not have the reasoning or judgment skills that adults possess. Kids do not fully mature mentally until they reach their twenties.

Try to empathize with someone who treats you meanly just one time. When I was a teenager, my Sunday school teacher told the class about an experience he had with a waitress. She was rude to him. He later learned her sister just died. Although she should not have worked that day, he was able to sympathize.

Walk in another person’s shoes before you condemn him or her!