Do Not Be Quick To Assume — Thomas Merton
In a day where we are too quick to choose sides in an us versus them battle, I believe we would do well to stop, step back, and check our assumptions. Yes, I am looking at myself in the mirror as I offer this challenge. In his book, New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton offers some very sound advice. And yes, he was looking into the mirror of his own soul as he wrote the following words.
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy.
Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men.
Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith.
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