Hump Day Reflections on the Perspective from Your Experience 04/4/18

I find myself sitting here before sunrise trying to get my mind right for the day. I'm finally at a place where I can just relax and not worry about a thing. Honestly, I am feeling the best that I've been in the last several weeks. I feel like I'm finally starting to break free from a few things that have weighed me down. Although, I don't know how quickly I can ‎be completely free, I know I'm on the right path. If I've learned anything, I know that life sometimes needs to break you down in order to get you back on track. Over the last couple of months, I've experienced every emotion that I could handle. I've been tested on many levels with my personal relationships, professional‎ relationships, and the like. What I've grown to realize is that a lot of our misunderstandings result from an inability to see things from another's perspective. We can all sit here and say, "That we can understand what a person's going through and why they feel they way they do." And in most cases, I don't think that's true as I believe we often times blur the lines of empathy and understanding. Not really sure where I'm going with this, but I got quite a few things on the brain right now. Strictly from my perspective, I have quite a few layers to get through to understand how I feel. What I'm about to say, it's pretty much my reality so take it with a grain of salt. This is me: African American Male(black) Child of divorced parents Big Brother Uncle Godfather Moved to Germany at the age of 6 Returned to USA to live at 18 College Graduate Racially Profiled on more than one occasion This is merely a snapshot of a collection of things that have played a part in shaping my experiences in life. There are many things that I've done that people could relate to, but one can not relate to all. Much like myself, you have a lot that you've experienced that maybe people can't relate to. It's for this reason that I'll always say that unless you've been in a person's shoes or can see everything through their lenses that you can't appreciate why they feel the way they do. The older I get the more I'm learning to appreciate the the complete perspective of all situations. Whether it's parents, friends, or the like they can try to shield you from things based on their experiences, but there is a catch. The landscape that they experienced those things in might be slightly different and how you are affected just might not be the same. I say this in full confidence as it reminds me to think about the world we live in. On paper we live in a world where we are one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all. From my perspective, I understand the words yet my experiences still tell me that we still have work to do. One day I hope that many perspectives can change as people learn to understand that all of our experiences will never be the same. Unless you were in a position all your life where you were taught to be 10 times better, knew that you had to always have an edge, or knew that someone was always looking for a reason make you the example you just might not get it. As convoluted as my thoughts may be, I used myself as example of what many of us may go through trying to be understood. Without knowing how it feels to be passionate about some things based on experiencing them yourself and being directly impacted by them how would you understand? In the words of Bartholemew J. Simpson, "It's a Bart thing, and you wouldn't understand!" Any questions? ‎ As you go forward with your day, recall your experiences and ‎think about who might understand your perspective and why. ‎