BECOME AN ANTHROPOLOGIST

Monday, February 12, 2007

Today I’m on subject 43 as I spend 100 days reading through the book, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff. Author Richard Carlson redefines the word anthropology as “being interested, without judgment, in the way other people choose to live and behave.”

He says that when someone acts in a way that seems strange to us that rather than reacting in our usual ways, such as, “I can’t believe they would do that,” instead we should say something to ourselves like “I see, that must be the way she sees things in her world. Very interesting.”

I have struggled with this all my life. I’m praying that I will be able to get a handle on it before I turn 100 years old. If I don’t, I’m just going to have to keep on sweating the small stuff. And worse than that I’m going to be judged by the way I judge others.