I just want to be 'Normal'

Sometimes in life, you'll meet people who view things from different perspective, or people who don't share the same beliefs or values as yours. Conflict occurs when these beliefs don't fit one another. So, what would you do?

This question has bugged me for quite a while. You know what, if you're not careful enough, it's easy for you to offend or hurt others. It's probably easy to say, "oh well I can't please everyone" but hey, even if you can't, that's not an excuse for you to be ignorant. In fact, it can be a major breakdown of relationship, and you may hurt others even more.

Questions to ponder, why do you think you're close to certain people but not to others? What is it that makes you disclose certain things to this group but not to the other group? Isn't it because there's time when you feel comfortable with this group than that group?

And what is it that makes you feel comfortable?

The answer that I normally hear is "because we can 'click' well". The person that you 'click well' with may share the same values as you, or favour the things that you also keen to.

But what happens to those who don't share the same thing, or who are being quite 'different' from you? Will you call them 'weird'? Probably. In fact, I used to be called as one just because I was different from everyone else. Ironically, when I learned to be 'normal', to be just like everyone else, I started to dislike these 'weirdos' (who I was once). Maybe that's why people become bully. Because everyone hates the victim, and thus it makes them a part from the group if they hate the victim as well.

I think that's why people have to learn to RESPECT rather than to TOLERATE. To tolerate makes you accept or endure someone or something unpleasant, but when you respect, you're actually being considerate not to hurt or harm others.

But I also know that the former is much harder to do. How can you respect something/someone when you dislike it? You've no choice but to tolerate. I guess for now, to tolerate is probably something that I have to learn before I proceed to respect. In order to learn how to respect, I probably have to stop being pompous, to stop thinking that I'm better than everyone else.

Thinking about this reminds me to what my parents told me years ago:

"Although you dislike one, you should always smile to that person. Be nice to everyone".

No, they didn't teach me to be hypocrite. They taught me to tolerate, the best start for me to know life before I could learn how to respect others myself.

Respect, a big word that I wish to manifest more in life.

-Miss B-