- Addiction, to legal or illegal substances
- Sexual orientation
- Affairs
- Domestic abuse
- Child abuse
- Divorce
- "Welfare" or public assistance
- Single parenthood
- Teen pregnancy
- Math (Yep. I used to think I knew all the math in the world. I was 10. Then I looked in a Calculus textbook. I learned right then that there was a lot I didn't know yet.
- Disability
After some life experience in these and other things, I have learned that there are no easy answers. I have learned that the answers I used to know were misguided at best. Every single thing on that list sometimes happens to good people who are stumbling through life the best they can. All of these have happened in the lives of people I love. Some of them have happened in my own life, and any of them could. I have learned that people often make choices that make sense, even if they don't make sense to outsiders. I am more compassionate and patient with people whose lives include these things in some way.
Because I have been proven wrong so many times, I can only assume that I would be proven wrong again if I had experience in other thing. I am trying to be more compassionate and patient with people whose lives include things I don't understand, too.
Unfortunately, my belief and my behavior don't always match. As much as I want to be loving to everyone, I sometimes think or say that someone else is making stupid choices, that someone else must not be a good as I--I make judgments based on my own incomplete understanding of the situation. But I can change, given time and room to grow. I can become the woman I want to be. Please be patient. Genuine compassion for all mankind is still installing.
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