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barrie.anson@virgin.net
wrote...
Do you wish to be listed
anonymously? No
Which area is your meta4
useful in? CRITICISM
/ JUDGEMENT.
Which country are you in?
England
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I was talking to a colleague
recently who had spent a lot of time with Native Americans
and he was telling me about their saying May I judge
no man until I have walked for two moons in his moccasins.
Of course by two moons they meant two months and I
started to think about what that would be like.
My colleague suggested that
if I had the privilege to walk in another man’s
shoes for a couple of months then I would discover
an awful lot about him. He emphasised that it meant
really entering into his being. That way I would discover
an awful lot about him. I would become aware of the
circumstances that had shaped his life. I would feel
his fears, know his deepest and highest desires and
feel his guilt and shame. I would experience how much
or how little love there was in his life.
Maybe I would know about the
suffering he’d endured quietly and for which
the rest of the world would never give him credit?
I might also know the courage with which he’d
faced his adversity. Perhaps I would have an awareness
of the little loving acts of kindness performed probably
without anybody else knowing?
The other thing, he said, was
to remember that if the person whose identity I had
assumed knew me and I could see myself through his
eyes then that might be quite a shocking and humbling
experience. When I thought about it I was quite shocked
as I’d never thought of it like that but it gave
me some food for thought I can tell you!
My friend added that after
a couple of months, depending whose moccasins I’d
been in, he would expect me to feel a good deal more
compassionate and be very glad to get back into my
own shoes!
Adapted from the book "THE
EIGHTH COLOUR" by Barrie Anson
Thanks Barrie!
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