Understanding others

“If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.” — G.K. Chesterton

As I listen and spend more time with people, my appreciation of them typically tends to grow. You begin to realize their personal struggles, their vulnerabilities and hurts, their anxieties and fears…and empathy becomes so much easier. When a homeless man in NYC asked me if I had ever spent two weeks on the street in the freezing cold, without a shower and rarely without a hot meal, and that even with 4 pairs of socks on, he could no longer feel his toes…it certainly changed my perspective!

 

 

About Father Michael Sliney, LC

Father Michael Sliney was ordained a priest in Rome on December 24, 1998. He studied mechanical engineering at Michigan State University for two years before entering the Legion. As a seminarian he earned a bachelors in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas and degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum College in Rome. He works with youth groups in the Washington D.C. area.
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