"Never look down on anybody unless you are helping him up.- Jesse Jackson

Lending a helping hand

It is easy to get down on someone when you aren't in their shoes. Often we throw in our two cents when it is not only unwanted, but also unhelpful and useless. Resist the temptation to waste your breath on pointless criticism at someone else's expense. Don't give advice to people unless it is asked for, lest you belittle them and come off looking like a know-it-all. Instead, examine ways you could help that person. Rather than continuously feeling irked by a coworker's mistakes, could you lend a hand or explain a task to her in a respectful way? You never know when the shoe will be on the other proverbial foot. Help others and one day it might come back to you. "

I just read this today and realized just how much I do this...become critical instead of helping, use judgmental words instead of encouraging ones. As a christian, I find that instead of simply giving a situation to God, I keep it and try to fix it myself without even seeking God's guidance. I hate it when people do that to me.

Figures... the first person I always have to change is myself...hmmpf!

Not long ago I won an argument with my son. I'm a better arguer. I won...but I wasn't right and I told him so.

It made me think about all of the arguments people have. If you're smarter does that mean you're right, or does it just mean you're smart enough to win an argument? Or that you just have better communication skills to get your point across.

Is it more important to win? Sometimes you may be surprised by people who have less knowledge and fewer verbal skills. It just might be one of them that's right.