understanding

In the book "The Promise " by Chaim Potok, Reuven doesn't like his talmud teacher because he felt that he was (a. too harsh, ie. coming into class and screaming about something that was on his mind before picking someone to read. And (b. narrow minded and not open to new ideas. He liked another rav he had before more, because he was nicer and his class was more enjoyable. Later, his dad helps him to understand his teacher and where he's coming from and makes a good point about how understanding helps to lessen the anger. His friend Daniel also helps him to understand the man.
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This is a good message for all of us. Sometimes we take the angry route toward others instead of trying to understand them. Like when someone says something that upsets us, we immediately start to dislike the person. Of course this is what's to be expected from people. We are only human after all and we do what comes naturally to us. But there is another route, and if we stop to think about where they are coming from instead of going with our negative impulse, we can learn to understand each other and improve our achdus.
Also, we should remember that an individual is judged the way s/he judges others. And so if want Him to be understanding, we need to be that way ourselves.

Have a good week everyone