How do you apply this wisdom to your life?
There are many versions of this quote, and the attribution is…fuzzy. Here’s my favorite:
“Everyone you meet “Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a great battle you know nothing about.”
I think it’s a great animating philosophy – you can do well in virtually every interaction by keeping it front of mind.
So keeping it front of mind is step one. But step two is almost as important.
Lengthen the fuse. We need time to reflect before we react. It’s only with that reflection time that we can consistently give people the generous responses that come from understanding that they, too, are fighting a great battle.
Sometimes that means waiting to reply, waiting to react, waiting to decide. Give yourself the time to make the response generous.
As an educator, youth leader, and parent, I am constantly trying to model and empower the youths in my life to find that wait time and that generous mindset.