“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
-Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
On this rainy Monday I’ve become a little introspective. I began to think about this famous quote from To Kill a Mockingbird. For those of you who don’t know the story, the whole plot revolves around the assumptions a set of children make about a strange man down the street and the not so great results of those assumptions. The story ends with the main character, Scout, affirming that her dad was right – you really don’t know a person till you walk around in their shoes.
How many people actually think like Atticus? I mean, its one thing to agree that “yes, I should always consider what it is like for another,” but it is a totally different thing to actively apply it to our everyday life.
Then again, if you do apply it all the time, which is supposed to be the right and best thing to do, how do you keep from being burned out? That person who is so difficult to get along with, well, if I just thought about their life and what effects them, well, geeze, I shouldn’t avoid them, maybe I should take some time and write them a nice note, maybe bring them a meal. That sentence was long and exhausting, how much more so is living like that on a daily basis.
Ok. But God says to live sacrificially.
So, you can see my mind has been running around in circles.
Maybe we can meet in the middle. You there, you who assume that the smiley person is always happy and has an easier life then you, stop and try to think what it is like to walk around in their skin. Think about what makes them tick. And you over there busy with your emails and your phone calls, slow down and ask yourself if you think you are really the only one who can reach out to the hurting person who you see with all their needs.
In the end, To Kill a Mockingbird isn’t a story about kids who thought the man down the street was a ghost-like monster. It wasn’t even really about a man who may or may not have had a learning disorder or a traumatic childhood. It is about the everyday people in our lives who we make assumptions about, good or bad, and the effect those assumptions have on others.
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I don’t know what the end result of this blog is, but be thinking about the Boo Radleys in your life and your reaction to them.
Oh, and if you haven't read this book since 9th grade, pick it up again and be suprised by what you find. You can borrow my copy if you want...
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