Life Issues - The Gardener

People are different. No two ways about it, everyone has different morals and values, different beliefs.

Jess learnt this when he came across Jesus and Maximus.

Maximus was an arrogant soldier, he thought that the world owed him something just because he was on the winning side. He walked through life with the attitude that he was better than everybody else was and that his position of a soldier was a very important one because he got to make others turn to his way of thinking by using force.

Jesus would not use violence against those who did not believe in what he was saying and this frustrated Jess. How could someone just literally turn their cheek and ignore the hatred in somebody else’s eyes?

Eventually both Jess and Maximus learned that forgiveness and love can take you a long way and they both changed their whole belief systems and ways of life as a result of this lesson.

So how do we accept difference?
The first lesson to learn must be that you are not 100% right and others are not 100% wrong. Everybody has been brought up differently and the experiences that somebody goes through in their life can mould the way that they think and feel about certain situations.

It’s great to feel strongly and passionately about things and to try to put your side of the argument across but you should always listen to the other side of the story. You do not have to accept it, you just have to listen and respect that the other person has their own way of looking at things. You can always agree to disagree.

What next?
The second lesson to learn is that violence does not solve anything. It might feel kind of good at the time to lash out and let go of all your pent up anger and aggression but really, what does that do? You hurt the other person, yes. And maybe that is what you wanted to do. But ultimately you hurt yourself a whole lot more. It shows that you have absolutely no self-control and no respect for yourself or other people.

If you cannot control your temper then you really have no chance of getting on in the world. Behaving like a spoilt child who stamps their feet on the floor when they don’t get what they want is just downright embarrassing, let’s face it!

And the final lesson?
Learn from other people. Listen and ask questions, find out what makes a person tick, what makes them so different to you. You still might not agree with what they say or stand for but it will make you a much better person for being interested and you will feel better within yourself for taking the time to look at things from a different perspective.

So don’t be narrow minded, opinionated and judgmental! Embrace the differences in life and never stop learning! You might just surprise yourself by what you find out along the way.