We are all human beings

“Humans lack good mirrors. It’s so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show anyone how we feel…on some fundamental level we find it difficult to understand that other people are human beings in the same way that we are. We idealize them as gods or dismiss them as animals.” - John Green, Paper Towns
 

This comes off as a strong opinion, but it does strike a chord with me.  I have found more happiness in life when I accept that within myself and within others, we are flawed.  When I cause someone else to feel bad, I know within my heart that I wasn't searching out that outcome.  I can find all the reasons in my heart why the situation happened the way it did.  If the other person still finds me at fault, it is a hard pill to swallow.  This mirror that I reflect into my heart to find all of the good areas inside of myself sometimes stops right there.  I don't reflect it back onto the person I am having an issue with, allowing myself to -- if I can't see within their heart, to at least know -- that there are a lot of good qualities inside of them too.  If I can understand and accept that I myself am human and am capable of making an error, I need to extend that same understanding to the next person.  It actually enables more peace to enter into my heart, because I am allowing myself to awknowledge others as human, just like me.  I can say that the situation itself was hurtful, but the person as a whole doesn't deserve to live life defined by that singular moment in time.

Too deep or unclear?  These are simply my thoughts, my feelings.  These are the attributes I like to think on, dwell on, in order to attempt to bring myself more inner happiness in my life.  Happiness begins with me.  It is my choice, and mine alone.  So if I can be a happier person by seeing others as humans, not as gods so grand and mighty, or animals so dirty and beneath me, then I feel like inner happiness is just a little bit easier to find.