Be able to cite three good qualities of every relative or acquaintance that you dislike.
---Marilyn vos Savant
Marilyn vos Savant is probably most known for her weekly quiz/advice column in Parade magazine, inserted in numerous Sunday newspapers. She's credited as having an extremely high IQ, for what that's worth, and doesn't mince words about her opinions on a wide range of subjects...some of these I'm not terribly in agreement with, to put it diplomatically. Yet she does have a lot of wise quotes, and I picked the one above because it goes counter to popular sentiment today. Whether it's politics, reality TV, social media, school, the workplace, or any other venue, people tend to vent negatively about others in their lives or the news without couching their criticisms with some praise and understanding. Trying to see things from the other guy's viewpoint...which is empathy...is crucial to maintaining a balanced view of others, especially those we dislike. We're all mixed bags with good and bad...Marilyn's advice rings true to me: instead of harping on how bad someone else is, why not put your time to better use and see them for their positive traits? Some folks in my life are disagreeable because they don't like me either, and can probably list all sorts of reasons for this. I can't make everyone like me, and I don't want to anyway. And I can't always like others, either. But everyone's got something to appreciate and recognizing that fact can potentially point to improved relationships between us...
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