This beautiful quote by Plato has influenced many of my life philosophies. I’ve even derived another idea from it, “Be kind, for you never know who is a Black Belt!” In all seriousness, this mindful approach to people and life has worked very well for me. Take for example an incident that happened several months ago. My wife and I were gearing down for the evening at around 9 pm when we heard what sounded like a person banging on the outside of our house! My gut dropped and a surge of adrenaline swept over me. I went outside to investigate the noise and I saw the neighbor who lives two doors down emphatically pounding on my next-door neighbor’s front door. He was visibly irate and I was surprised that the door had lasted as long as it did.

I greeted the man and asked him if everything was OK, to which he responded, “Well hell no!” I admit this made me laugh on the inside for whatever reason. I introduced myself and after a few minutes of conversation I understood the problem. He and his wife have jobs that require them to wake up very early in the morning and our mutual neighbors forgot to let their dog in before they went out for the evening. The dog apparently had separation anxiety because she was barking her head off and keeping my new acquaintance and his family awake. I empathized with the guy and he eventually calmed down. Since I’m on good terms with the next-door neighbors I told him I’d check up on the dog and make sure she had some food which pacified him and ultimately resolved the problem.

I could have called the police on both him and the dog but by taking the time to understand the situation and help I was able to defuse the problem and strengthen my relationship with both neighbors.