Are you sure you’re really right?
Sometimes we “lock people in” to what we think about them. I had a child once who teased a great deal. (Well, actually, I still have that child, but that child does not tease nearly as much now.) One day, as I was wondering how to get him to stop teasing, I realized that I “saw him” as a tease. I didn’t see him as a child who was inherently good, but didn’t know how to control his energy. So just how did I think I could help him to change? I had locked him into the very role that I was trying to help him change out of.
Here’s a great children’s poem about this very topic.
MAGGY’S DOG
There was a young girl called Maggy,
Whose dog was enormous and shaggy.
The front end of him
Looked vicious and grim,
But the tail end was friendly and waggy.
—Anonymous
We judge too soon many times. It’s a stretch in this analogy - but it would help if we could see the “end” instead of just the “beginning” before we decide anything at all about someone else!
