While riding the bus to work this morning I was reading Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach. I’m just up to the chapter on compassion (for self and others) and I read she used a quote from Longfellow that just leapt out at me:
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
I decided to read the book because I thought it might give me some insight in coming to terms with my ADD and other issues, and I think it has. In the case of this quote, it reminds me to reimagine some that I consider “difficult” people. The difficulties are often related to one aspect or another of my ADD and how this person is affected by it. With these people, I tend to get defensive and label them with various names as a way of distancing myself from having to deal with the issue at hand or with them as people. So the quote jumped out at me as something to remember when dealing with people.
It just struck me as something I wanted to share, as it may have other applications for other people.