Weaknesses

Since others have to tolerate my weaknesses, it is only fair that I should tolerate theirs.
William Allen White

Most of us go around constantly complaining about other people's weaknesses. "Why can't he pick up after himself?" "Why is she always late?" "Why is he so obnoxious?" Why is she so lazy?" And on and on. We are constantly judging other people and finding them to be lacking, to be not satisfactory. To not live up to the standard that we have created in our own minds about how people should behave.

But the truth is that we don't live up to that standard either. And deep down we know it. We are just as judgmental about our own weaknesses as we are about the weaknesses of other people. We all wish we were better people. Most of us could easily come up with a long list of the things we don't like about ourselves. We need to stop and appreciate that everyone in the world has both strengths and weaknesses. So maybe it is much better to just get rid of our standards and accept people as a total package of who they are, strengths and weaknesses combined.

Since others have to tolerate your weaknesses, it is only fair that you should tolerate theirs. Most of us are so fixated on our own needs and desires that we forget about what other people need and desire from us. We forget that our own weaknesses might be annoying other people just as much as their weaknesses annoy us. We expect other people to put up with our weaknesses yet are reluctant to return the favor. This is unreasonable. We all should tolerate each others weaknesses, and our own, because we should be looking at their strengths as something so desirable that their weaknesses don't matter.