There are 8 billion humans on Earth and as we speak, the count keeps surging. Though you don't meet all of them, you at least come across hundreds to thousands of people your entire life. Some you walk across as strangers, some you talk to circumstantially, some you acquaint, some you befriend, some you love, and very few remain significant.
We, as social animals, do interact, socialise, inhabit, and belong together with other human beings time and time again. Imagine you meet countless people and you live only one story, and that's yours. You live your life and view others as characters in your story. You have your own perspective on the script. When you fight, you are angry. When somebody yells at you, you're hurt. When somebody gifts you, you're excited. Have you taken time to look into this life from somebody else's perspective? That occurs rarely.
Everybody carries a script like you do. Everybody is the protagonist in their own story. Like how people play characters such as partner, parent, friend, teacher, colleague, stranger, or enemy in your life, you are another character in somebody else's script. You are a friend in one, a lover in one, a mentor in another, an enemy in another, and so on.
Though we humans are egoistic in nature and we revolve around being self-centred (I would love to debate if you beg to disagree), why don't we take a moment to listen to stories?
In an era when people prefer synopsis to books since they don't have "time," why can't we take time to get on track and listen to listen instead of listen to react?
Hit a pause, grab your phone, text your friend, and ask, "What made you upset with me the other day?, call your colleague, "Why do you prefer work life over home?"; meet your student, "What makes you feel disinterested in studies?"; sit with your parent and know, "What made you who you are?"; and dine with your partner and ask, "Are you happy in your life?".
Ask people, "What's your story?"
Listen to their childhood, dreams, passion, achievements, happiness, embarrassment, failures, pain, and trauma.
We judge and jump to conclusions because we don't have time to ask, listen, and rationalise lengthy stories. The time we expend on explaining ourselves is not what we expend on understanding.
Like how real and valid your version of stories is, others as well. "But what's the take for me in it?" The take is definitely yours; you don't have to listen to their stories for them. If you genuinely spend time getting to know people, you evolve. Evolve into being more humble, loving, caring, graceful, understanding, and empathic.
There is no right or wrong, only stories. Multiple scripts of the same story. When one is from the version of Christopher Nolan, another is from the version of the child next door. One from Mother Teresa, another from Adolf Hitler. One from Jeffrey Bezos, yet another from the homeless person. When one can listen to a trending podcast, why not listen to the people around them?
Out of all the best-selling audiobooks, choose people. People are novel.