Much of the time, we go through life viewing people as no more than a "title." The guy working behind the drive-thru window at Taco Bell is, in our minds, "just the drive-thru guy." The slightly awkward teenage girl with braces that tears your ticket at the movie theater is, in our minds, "just the awkward teenage girl who should probably think about running a comb through her hair."
However, as a recent victim of this view that people are just "roles," I've been challenged to look past jobs and/or positions of authority and see that these are actually God's children that I'm dealing with. Everyone I interact with daily, even those I don't know at all, has an intricate story that has led them to that specific moment in time. The story could be riddled with flowers and rose pedals, with despair and neglect, a mix of the two, or something totally different. Whatever the case, each person you meet has a story and has value in the Body of Christ.
I'm sure that I'll neglect to take my previous statements as seriously as I would like sometime today, primarily because this selfish way of thinking is so engraved in my brain. But, here's the take home point folks: in your daily interactions, please remember that each person you encounter does not just have a singular interpersonal interaction with you and that there's so much that may be going on behind those eyes. Life is intrapersonal as well as relational. Keep this in mind as you interact with your RA, your best friend, your spouse, your professors, the mail room clerk, the waitress. . .
Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato
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