UNDERSTANDING

An exercise in understanding this evening...

There is much to be said for being able to understand something - without having to like it. To be able to say, "Yes - this is what needs to be done right now; this is what should be placed first." And to also recognize that it doesn't mean displacement; it's not a matter of importance or rejection or guilt. It just has to be done; and the time for it is this precise moment.

What I most appreciate is when the understanding is two-fold; when it comes from both sides; when it is not a competition, but an agreement (and an agreement even before a discussion has to be had).

I acknowledge fully that it will not always be this way - that the understanding will not always be mutual - that some choices will of course require discussion and a longer pondering. But when it comes to your friends, especially those who are held in that deep level of your heart which affords them a term closer to family than merely friends... well, the understanding comes without question.