I had a warm interchange with a former colleague recently. I had not heard from that colleague for a long, long time, and during our tenure together a lot of life happened to both of us. As I caught her up on my life events, I thought a bit about the goods and bad that happened at the workspace we shared during that time. It was a very busy place and no day was without many, many events. As I thought back, my final summary pointed to the fact that no life chapter is without some highlights and lowlights--the goods and bads of life. I also realized that I've mostly made peace with the challenging moments and have come to appreciate the many positive events that occurred during that time.
In life we have to make amends. None of us are perfect. We all own parts of life's challenges and struggles, and we all own parts of life's good times too. There's a fair amount of life that's out of control too, and we all see life a bit differently depending on so many personal and societal factors. With this in mind, we should reach out to make amends, and we should be there to help others make amends if we can. To add to the fire, fracture, or friction in life does no one any good. It's best to be part of the solution, the kindness, and the care instead.
As I write this, I'm thinking of ways that I might be apart of making amends in my own life. As I think of a person who made me the angriest and most upset in life, a person associated with me via a work environment, I've all but forgotten the pain he caused. It's in the past. I hope he's kinder to people now than he was then, but in general, I don't wish him bad luck or misfortune. I hope his life moves on in positive ways.
To make amends doesn't mean that we accept hurtful or harmful behavior. It's important to speak up if someone is acting in a way that may hurt themself or others. I often recount a community event where many appeared to stay too quiet, and then an unthinkable act happened. If more spoke out would that tragic event have been prevented? That's difficult to know, but I'd rather speak out in hopes that tragedy will be avoided than stay silent which can pave a path to tragedy in some situations.
I say it all the time. None of us are superhuman. Life presents challenges to all of us. As much as possible, we need to make amends and move on in life with as much positivity and grace as possible. Onward.
