If We Only Knew

As Carrie Solomon was driving to work one day, she found herself behind a slow car with a large sign in the rear window.

It said: “Learning to drive stick, sorry for any delay.”

Knowing that the driver was struggling to master a new skill, Carrie not only found herself being patient with their effort but also cheering them on.

She later asked herself if she would have been as patient with the slow driver if the sign wasn’t there and her honest answer was—probably not.

There’s a lesson in there for all of us.

If strangers wore visible signs informing us that they were going through a divorce, experiencing depression or battling cancer, we’d likely show greater patience and kindness.

In other words, if we only knew the struggles that most people manage to keep hidden, we’d cut them some slack instead of treating them as objects.

Carrie says:

“We shouldn’t have to see signs and have reasons to treat strangers with kindness. We should do it anyway, whether we know what is going on or not. Whether they deserve it or not.”

That last part about whether or not they deserve it is more important than we know.

The kindness and deference we extend to others is less about easing their burden and more about becoming a better version of ourselves.

By making patience our default response, we will be far more likely to recognize and appreciate it when others extend kindness to us.

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