“There isn’t a person you wouldn’t love if you could read their whole story.”  – Marjorie Hinckley

I love that quote. When someone reminded me of this quote the other day I couldn’t help but stop and think how true it is.

We see people through a certain lens…we make snap judgments…we make assumptions about their lives from what we see on the outside…we get a first impression and we put them into a box to define them…

But then when we get to know a person, and I mean truly get to know a person…their hopes, their fears, their insecurities, theirs hurts, their wishes, their regrets, their goals, their failures, their successes and we truly learn their whole story…well, we will find that it is difficult not to love them once we learn all they have been through in their lives.

Remembering that will help you recognize that the fastest way to overcome any negative feelings you may have about another person is to take the time to get to know their whole story…try and understand where they have been and what they have been through and realize that they have vulnerabilities just like you do…because we ALL have them…so even though we may not have time to hear everyone’s whole story, we can remember the fact that everyone has one – we can choose to give people the benefit of the doubt – and we can trust that if we did know their whole story we would love them too.

~Amy Rees Anderson