Growing up, I think that I was a bit of a judgmental turd.
I didn’t have a very extensive view of the world and that made me quick to assume the worst about people.
It’s always easy to sit on a high horse and look down on folks when you aren’t living in their shoes. The older I’ve gotten, the more tolerant and open-minded I’ve become. I realized that other people haven’t been able to accurately judge my experience. Why should I be able to appropriately criticize theirs? In fact, the older I get the more I’m challenged everyday to reconsider my old beliefs. When I was much younger, I remember thinking that trailer parks were the epitome of hell. I thought that living in a trailer must be akin to living in a sweltering box. I couldn’t expect that they ever smelled fresh or clean. I anticipated that the air was always dirty and stagnant inside. And then, I stayed in a trailer. Last week I arrived at my uncle’s house and he showed me to my temporary living space, a trailer. When we walked inside, I braced for humidity, smelly indoor air. Instead, I found that the trailer was outfitted with an amazing central heating system in the form of a mini split ductless heating and cooling unit. The mini heating and cooling unit was able to easily provide air conditioning and heating power to the entire trailer. You couldn’t hear the HVAC system running, but you could definitely feel it. The air was absolutely fresh, cool, and comfortable. When I told my uncle that I was shocked by the HVAC system inside this little trailer, he told me I better buckle up for the rainforest shower he installed.