People are just people

Regina Spektor sings a line that appears to be almost laughably simplistic, but I find to actually be quite interesting and attitude-changing, if we just take it to heart. In her songs “Ghost of Corporate Future”, she sings:

"people are just people like you"

Upon first blush, there doesn’t really appear to be a lyric with much depth to it. Yes, thanks Jon, you are saying, we know that people are people!

But, when someone gets on our nerves, when someone rubs us the wrong way, or cuts us off in traffic (how dare they!!), or insults us, how easy it is to lose sight of the fact that they are a person with feelings and emotions just like you!

When someone annoys you, how often do you think of them as a unique person, with their own talents that were given to them by God? If someone just boils something inside you and makes you angry, how often do we think that they are a person with things that make them angry and sad, with shortcomings (perhaps the very shortcomings that make you angry) that they are trying to get past? If someone is inconsiderate and makes you sad, how often do we think that they are a person that is doing their best to juggle the many things that life has given them, and they have things they are struggle with and that make them insecure?

Ultimately, nobody is perfect. Everyone has their fault sand weaknesses, and everyone can get on someone else’s nerves at times. The important thing to remember is that for every person that makes you mad, you probably make that same number of people mad (even if you don’t know it).

Remember that people are just people like you, prone to mistakes and bad behavior. The proper response is forgiveness, love, and charity, not annoyance, anger, and mistreatment. After all, you would hope for the same treatment when you messed up. After all, it is not something nameless, faceless, evil thing that is making you annoyed, it is a human person, worthy of your love.