At first this may seem like the opposite of “love your
neighbor as yourself.” While we may
begin love by seeing others as ourselves, we mature in love by recognizing that
others want similar things in different ways.
We all need food, but we can’t all eat the same food. We all want
respect, but we may understand respect in different ways. We all want to be loved, but we may
understand love in different ways. This
is why God made most of us desire to be attached to the opposite sex—to learn
that love is expressed through difference, as well as through similarity.
Opposite: Insisting that others’ needs will be met only
in our way; rejecting others because of how they meet their needs.
Do we look at others as just extension of ourselves, or
as unique people in their own right? Do
we see the solutions we found to our problems the only solution to that problem
or one of a set of solutions that other’s might find helpful? Do we manipulate people to take a certain
path “for their own good” or give them the freedom to figure out what is good
for themselves? Do we command or advise?
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