Accept people As They Are

Yesterday I was down at my garden plot, a spot of weeding and watering of my plants. I always find such moments a time to consider and think. Here I was working in the soil about three miles from where I had been born and brought up. I had not come very far in life when you consider it. I used to walk past these very plots with my father as a young boy, and watch as the owners then worked the soil. The very soil I was now working.


In reality I had moved a long way. I had changed profession three times and in the process changed the lives of many people. In the process I have been fortunate to meet some wonderful people, and as I looked over at Archie in his plot I saw I still was. I have been very fortunate because I have been allowed into the lives of people in a very intimate way. I wondered why?

As I stopped for a coffee and one of my favourite chocolate biscuits I realised why, as I remembered two very true and in there own way funny stories.

The first was of the young girl who obviously came from a very poor family. She and some friends used to come into my classroom first thing every morning. Life’s bullied and unwanted. This girl every day brought me a biscuit for my first coffee. One day I said to her, “You should not do this; your mother cannot afford to give me biscuits every day.” She replied, “Ah, its ok my mum works in the factory, she brings that one out for you each day in her knickers.”

The other very true story was the one where a girl who worked in the same factory was being interviewed on the radio. She had worked in the factory for fifteen years doing the same job. She explained her job to the rather snooty interviewer. Her job was to take biscuits off the line and pack them in boxes. When asked if she liked her job she told the interviewer that she had a laugh and had many friends in the factory. The interviewer could not believe her. “Do you never get bored?” she asked. “No,” said the interviewee, “they change the biscuits from time to time.

I have been blessed because I have always been able to accept people on their terms and unlike the interviewer impose my way of life and values onto others. What I value may not be the same as others and what makes me happy may be a bore to others.

May today bring you happiness in what ever you do.

This is the way of the Tao.

This blog is linked to my other. Dave