Differing Views

I have written before about taking the time to read or hear the views of others we do not normally agree with. It can test us. We may even switch off. Or we may learn something. Something about the other person, or possibly something about ourselves.

Take Julie Bishop for example. I didn’t always agree with everything she did. Yet, there were definitely times I, and possibly most Australians, saw a very different side to her when Australians were facing a crisis. Think MH17, MH370 and the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Bishop was, is, gutsy and straightforward. Yet she has style! She was recently interviewed on Denton and it was very interesting to hear her stories of her time in politics, the tricks of the trade whilst also seeing her from her brother’s point of view.

From a very different angle, every now and again, I am able to see an episode of ‘M*A*S*H’. This is something from my childhood I really enjoy. Now I mention M*A*S*H because for a very long time I did not like Alan Alda who played Hawkeye Pierce. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know why. I saw him in a movie called ‘Same Time Next Year’ with Ellen Burstyn. It was a great movie and I saw Alda differently. Alda is playing characters on a screen. They aren’t him. Of course, I don’t know what he is like personally but he writes material that I enjoy... still.

We don’t always get along with those we work with. Yet we all have something to contribute and it is possible to work together without having to be best friends. It simply means appreciating what the other brings even if it is different to us and challenging.

The real challenge is find what we can appreciate about others. Do you work with someone who you try to avoid or just can’t be nice too? Is it possible for you to find just two positive things about that person?

Who knows what you may learn, about them and about yourself.