We watched Dash & Lily on Netflix a short time ago. Neat little series of half-hour episodes. There were some really neat moments in there. One that stands out is where Lily confronts her middle school bully, and talks about how hard it was for her. He says something that’s kind of a shock to her system, an epiphany. A bit of a spoiler here, coz she says, “I was only 12,” and he says, “So was I.”
This is one of the most important things my mum taught me. Any time I talked to her about y’know, something someone else said or did that upset me, she used to remind me that everyone is going through something, everyone has something they’re dealing with. And she wasn’t saying it to dismiss my feelings, but just reminding me… Just as I have stuff I’m dealing with, so does that person who said that thing. And that was always a huge help in Ummm… learning to not take things quite so personally? Feeling empathy.… for that person?
This concept was built upon later when I worked with this theatre director who said, “Anything another person says or does tells you something about them. Not you. Them.” and she said, how you react to it, tells you something about you.” Those words have stuck with me, and I taught my kids that, too: Anything another person says or does tells you something about them. How you react to it, tells you something about you. That concept, coupled with Everybody has stuff in their life that they’re dealing with… Well, I wouldn’t really call it my philosophy of life, but it certainly has helped me with trying to understand people.