#1 Reason to Accept Different Capabilities

Acceptance is crucial in these times of ever-widening political, religious, and financial divisions. More than ever, many people enjoy making their opinions known. Furthermore, they don’t enjoy being shown that their views may not be the only viable solution to important crises. In fact, some of us really struggle against this knowledge.

Bottom line: We all want to be right. We all desire our beliefs to be respected, if not embraced. In other words, every human being wants to be accepted, even if they aren’t understood.

The Challenge

The main test of acceptance comes when certain individuals don’t have the training, or capacity, to think like us. Upon consideration, how is it even fair to expect every single person to have our same life experience, including our mental and physical capacity? It just isn’t possible.

Many of us are dealing with limitations. Some of these restrictions are evident; some aren’t.

Jessica

This young lady recently visited relatives. She has Asperger’s syndrome, which means she operates high on the autism scale. Jessica is intelligent and highly creative, but socially awkward.

Jessica is used to a laid-back, private lifestyle. She’s accustomed to physical and mental “space”, or freedom. This naturally reserved young woman doesn’t do well in crowds. They cause her a good deal of stress. Unfamiliar situations also trigger anxiety. Jessica retreats into herself, or lashes out at others.

On the other hand, the family members with whom Jessica visited are social and outgoing. They love entertaining guests in their home. These relatives loudly chastised the young lady for her natural desire to have time alone. This reaction made Jessica more confused and sad. She doesn’t know how to be anything other than her true self.

Her relatives are aware of Jessica's reticence; but, they are unwilling to accommodate it. She has no immediate desire to repeat her visit.

My Conclusion

Everyone has different personalities. That provides an opportunity for us to accept others as they are, not try to mold them to our way of thinking. We can look at people with our hearts, not our eyes. Our hearts will tell us the way of universal love and respect.

 How have you been more accepting lately?