The above scripture is from Luke 6: 31, of which, if more people actually comprehended these words and subsequently took them to heart, we would find then that their interactions with others, would fairly reflect these words in action. That is to say, for all those that would like this world to be a better place, and desire to have more harmonious relationships with others, then the very first place that the change needs to begin at, for this to be thus actualized, starts with our own self, and none other.
Indeed, it is a very difficult thing, to actually try to look at life through the eyes of the other; yet, how are we to understand the other, if we won’t trouble our self to do what we need to do to try to appreciate their point of view? While each of us do have validity in and of our self, it is when we insist that only our opinion, or our beliefs, or our desires are what really matter, that this thus creates friction; of which, the end result invariably lends itself to sowing disharmony with one another, and further to the point, we will have a tendency to become argumentative and confrontational with others, rather than being open to having a civil discussion and a reasonable conversation, so as to understand one another, better.
Most of us, when we have made a major mistake, before we even consider owning up to it, desire that the other person, be the type that will not harshly judge us and will be forgiving to us. We long for this, mainly because there are few of us, that willingly want to suffer a fair punishment for our mistakes, because we prefer that those that judge us take into consideration our overall character, or past performance, or even our potential to be a better person, instead. So then, the type of forgiveness that we desire to receive from others, should be our reciprocal obligation thus practiced by ourselves to those others, as well.
If we would like to create a good impression for others, we need to be mindful of how we behave and act with those others. That is to say, while there is something to be said about knowing the difference between appropriate and misappropriate behavior – that knowing is never the same thing as the actual doing. We have to, then, do our level best to conduct ourselves in a way and manner, that is consistent with our most cherished beliefs and to act upon such in a way that brings out the best in us, which thus will help to bring out the potential best in others, as well.
Those then, that want to have healthy friendships, must conduct themselves with a demeanor that reflects good friendship – for the more that we take on the attributes of kindness, compassion, caring, empathy, consideration, generosity, forgiveness, and patience with one another, the more that we see such reflected back to us, because like begets like, and good deeds begets good deeds.