How self-aware do you think you are?
The other day I was on the streetcar on my regular commute home from work and there was a woman standing carrying her newborn baby. This is your typical everyday situation that most of us run into, which comes in various forms like the elderly person crossing the street or the pregnant woman on the bus. Especially in the concrete jungle that is known as Toronto, where everyone is rushing to get from point A to point B, it’s very easy to keep your head down and mind your own business. Not to “blow my own horn”, but I couldn’t help notice that I was the only person, on this overly packed streetcar, that offered her my seat (which she kindly declined and didn’t actually end up taking by the way).
I have some qualms about the idea of “self-awareness”. I think the key is actually found in realizing that maybe we’re too self-aware these days, and in many ways and many times, to a fault. We are trained to be uber conscious of who we are, how we feel, what we are doing, where we are headed. Obtaining a certain level of awareness of one’s self is helpful, but only if we use this consciousness for the betterment of God and others, and not for the sole purpose of pursuing and pushing our own interests.
Are we training ourselves to be just as aware of the ‘other’? How many times a day do we think about our well being compared to the well being of others? The person who needs a seat, the person who needs our prayers, the person who needs an ear or a shoulder – not only to look out for those we hold dear to our hearts, but especially for those we may not even recognize we are called to be an instrument for.
It’s a funny thing that sometimes when we are overburdened with our own crosses it only takes looking at the crosses of others to realize that ours are actually lighter than we originally thought. Maybe then the key to self-awareness is being aware of how much the ‘other’ needs us to be more aware of them, rather than being more aware of ourself.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” [Galatians 6:2]