There’s a double standard going on. Surprise, it’s not “someone else”. It’s you. It’s me. It’s everybody, and there are no exceptions.
We have an innate ability to justify ourselves. Any action, motive, or word is okay as long as it’s ours. Even if we later realize we were wrong, there’s always a good reason, and that reason is not because we are evil by nature.
We have an uncanny ability to excuse ourselves. We always “mean well”. Any less than honorable intentions are always relegated to other people. This self-aggrandizing trait often rears it’s ugly head in the world of politics.
“Politics”. Now, there’s a funny word. Nobody calls themselves political, not even politicians. It carries with it a nasty connotation. We seldom associate the word with anything positive. In fact, if you listen to the news, you may notice the word politics is always referring to the opposing side. “They” are regularly the ones “playing politics”, and taking actions “for political purposes”. It’s never us.
The truth is, we all play politics, even if we don’t engage in the political landscape.
We defend ourselves in relationships, in our finances, and in our faith. It’s our selfish intuition to assume if there’s a bad intention, it belongs to someone else. We are champions of our own defense.
What can be done to defeat this hideous beast? It’s extremely difficult, but it’s entirely possible. It takes sacrifice. It takes surrendering our right to be right. We literally have to put ourselves in another person’s shoes. (Even if they don’t fit.) The opposition feels just as right as we do.
Though many situations are black and white, ultimately there doesn’t always have to a right and a wrong.
What would happen if we gave others the benefit of doubt we award ourselves?