Hanlon's razor brought up (to me) some of Jesus' last words: "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
Thanks for the inspiring examples of your Grandmother. I have thought along those same lines; but not nearly every time someone does something negative towards me. I continue to practice.
"Why do you think it’s so much easier to assume the worst about others [...] rather than to assume the best?"
A good part of it may be that assuming the best requires us to consider consciously the (ultimately unknowable) lives of others -- including the infinite number of reasons why anyone might do *anything* -- rather than to just say, "I know this *one* thing about myself, which is that I am hurt/disappointed/inconvenienced." (In a way, it's why empathy is harder than sympathy, which too often is simply dismissive of the other person's interiority.)
P.S. Just saw an image over on Medium which sums this up neatly. It's at this page (may require a subscription, dunno, and I don't think there's a way to embed an image in a comment here):
Hanlon's razor brought up (to me) some of Jesus' last words: "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
Thanks for the inspiring examples of your Grandmother. I have thought along those same lines; but not nearly every time someone does something negative towards me. I continue to practice.
"Why do you think it’s so much easier to assume the worst about others [...] rather than to assume the best?"
A good part of it may be that assuming the best requires us to consider consciously the (ultimately unknowable) lives of others -- including the infinite number of reasons why anyone might do *anything* -- rather than to just say, "I know this *one* thing about myself, which is that I am hurt/disappointed/inconvenienced." (In a way, it's why empathy is harder than sympathy, which too often is simply dismissive of the other person's interiority.)
P.S. Just saw an image over on Medium which sums this up neatly. It's at this page (may require a subscription, dunno, and I don't think there's a way to embed an image in a comment here):
https://matthewcook.medium.com/hanlons-razor-f7fa63e70e9a
...the one headed, "Possible Explanations."