Monday, May 2, 2011

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

No matter how long you know someone, or how much you've read their blog, you never really know everything about them. You don't know about what they're thinking all the time, you don't know how their mind works at all. You can't possibly know anything about their relationships, because you'll never know what goes on behind closed doors.

People don't know everything about me. They don't know that I can be so passive that I avoid confrontation at all costs. Most people don't know I cry over dumb things, like Steve Carell's last episode of The Office. Seriously though, if he hadn't said goodbye to Pam I would've been so mad. People don't know that my feelings are easily hurt, because I don't say anything.

People don't know that I sold some of my scrapbook stuff in order to buy my kids new shoes. That the reason we make sure to take a vacation to Disneyland every year with our tax returns is because the rest of the year our budget is stretched so thin we don't usually have money for fun stuff.

I don't claim to know everything either. I don't understand people at all sometimes. We were pretty confused about our loud neighbors. Why were they being so loud in the middle of the night? What could they possibly be doing at 1 am, that would consistently make loud noises, and bang against the wall, until 7 am, keeping us all awake? That's why we called the cops, and when that didn't stop the noise, called the landlord the next day to complain. There's no possible way we could've known that the cause of the noise was one of the tenant's nine year old son, who is autistic. If they had explained that prior to the noise, or even after, we would've been more understanding. We could've compromised, and possibly told them just to go into the front bedroom, that doesn't share a wall with our bedroom. No cops or complaining necessary.

No one will ever understand me or the way my mind works, but I'm nowhere close to understanding them.

3 comments:

Brian and Janette said...

I believe that most people are inherently good--and we could all cut each other a little more slack. You know...a little slower to anger and a little quicker to love. We may not always understand or get an answer to our "why", but we all understand being human--and that we all have weaknesses--and that's a great place to start!

Kerri said...

This is a tough situation. I hope you don't feel guilty about calling the police or complaining to your landlord because there's absolutely no way you could've known what was really going on. If I was your neighbor, I believe I would have given you a heads up about the possibility of a lot of late night noise. But maybe they try to keep issues with their son private. I suppose everyone handles things differently. I'm sorry for their struggles, but I hope going forward, you guys can come to some kind of compromise where you're not calling the cops on them but they're also not keeping you up all night long.

PS- You sound a lot like me personality wise!

ConnieB said...

I love this post! It's so true to my life as well! If I knew what other people were going through and they knew me, the world would be a better place. It's hard to see the silent suffering we all go through.

Thanks for sharing!
and... I totally cried at Steve Carrells last episode on the office too! So sad to think about- even now! hehe

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