Throughout history, conflicts great and small, have often been a result of poor communication and a lack of understanding and compromise. The truth is, so many conflicts can easily be avoided if all parties concerned just had a more open and curious mind and willingness to listen, learn and understand.
We’ve all had disagreements and arguments with people and too often, we let them escalate and fester into open hostility. Who among us hasn’t lost a friendship because both sides felt they were right and neither was willing to truly listen and understand? I believe a major contributing factor to human conflict is stubbornness and closed mindedness — we’re so convinced that we’re in the right or that we know all we need to, that we jump to conclusions and make judgments that are very often, wrong.
If you’re on social media or you read the comments sections on news sites, you quickly realize that there are a lot of people who just have no clue as to what they’re talking about — many of them consume only the news or information that supports their personal bias; in reality, they’re living in a bubble of ignorance and become immovable and unable to grow and improve. Their opinions and perspectives are sadly, skewed and harsh. Could it be that they just haven’t taken the time to compassionately consider that every single one of us are on a journey and some journey’s are harder than others?
“When someone judges you, it isn’t actually about you. It’s about them and their own insecurities, limitations, and needs.” – Lulu
“Those who judge will never understand, and those who understand will never judge.” – Anonymous
Learn and Understand
In Denmark and more than 85 other countries, they have these wonderful libraries where you can borrow a person instead of a book. In these “Human Libraries,” a reader can borrow an actual person and listen to their life story for 30 minutes. Some of the primary goals of the Human Libraries are to help fight against prejudice, learn about people’s experiences in life, discover new ideas, different perspectives, etc. Each person has an actual title, like “refugee,” “unemployed,” “alcoholic,′′ “bipolar,” etc. This amazing project opens up a whole new world for the “reader” because it fosters understanding and compassion and opens the listener’s eyes to the fact that everyone has a story to tell and that story matters.
“The Human Library creates a safe space for dialogue where topics are discussed openly between our human books and their readers.”
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER
“The Human Library is designed to build a positive framework for conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue. The Human Library is a place where real people are on loan to readers. A place where difficult questions are expected, appreciated and answered. The Human Library is a danish idea from 2000 and is now available in more than 80 countries.”
This incredible project offers so many amazing opportunities for people to learn about the life journey of others and opens up a whole new world view for the reader. Compassion and understanding are key to happiness and positivity. If we can learn to stop hating and judging and replace those toxic mindsets with positive ones, we take a giant step towards peace, harmony and positivity.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” – Matthew: 7
“There’s a story behind every person. There’s a reason why they’re the way they are. Think about that before you judge someone.” – Anonymous
“We can never judge the lives of others because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” – Paulo Coelho
Learn more about The Human Library here.
