it's not me, it's you

My parents always taught me growing up, “When you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at yourself.” I know that sounds silly, but it’s a simplistic thing everyone could benefit from applying to their daily lives. If we would each put as much energy in evaluating our own actions and lifestyles as we do on scrutinizing the other, we would be in a much better place regarding our personal relationships. Instead of constantly blaming the other for everything and trying to find reasons why they’re wrong, why can’t we genuinely look at what we ourselves are doing wrong FIRST and be humbled by our own mistakes? Think of your thought process when you get frustrated about something concerning others: what’s the first noun that pops into your head… “I” or “you”? We all play the blame game, but aren't we tired of running in circles? Let’s be grown-ups here. We’re ALL wrong, we ALL have things we need to work on, we ALL have to compromise, and we ALL are unhealthy.

Today I was walking through ICU after dropping off some reports and I happened to catch a glimpse of a family member standing over her loved one’s hospital bed. The look of despair and anguish on her face humbled my heart and hurt my spirit. Here is someone going through an indescribable amount of pain, possibly about to lose someone close to them… and here we are taking the other for granted and saying hurtful things. What are we doing? We are young, resilient, healthy adults with our whole lives ahead of us and the world at our feet… and we’re acting like it’s the end of the world because things aren’t going the way we want. How crazy is that? At least we’re not in that hospital bed, gazing up into the other’s eyes, wishing we had done all those things we should have, and had not said all the things we can’t take back. Today is a blessing and we are each other’s gifts, let’s start acting like it.