Many of us lack self-awareness.

Leo Buscaglia, a best-selling author popular for his messages on the importance of love, once took a 5-hour flight from Los Angeles to New Jersey. When he took his aisle seat, it was obvious the man next to him was irritated by his presence. The man explained to Buscaglia that he had hoped to have room to spread out.

Within moments, they heard a baby cry. “Great!” the man exclaimed under his breath. “I hate babies on airplanes. We’ll have to listen to that child scream for five hours!”

When the flight attendant advised that there was an area at the rear of the plane reserved for smokers, he said: “I hate smokers. They should be shot!” Buscaglia replied: “All of them? I know some nice people who smoke.” But the man replied with greater resolve: “I hate smokers — all of them!” [This obviously happened in the 1980s. The man would like our current policies!]

When at last the plane was airborne, the man turned to Buscaglia and asked, “What do you do for a living?”

Buscaglia answered, “I am a professor.”

“Really? What do you teach?”

“Mostly I teach courses in relationships, how to treat one another, how to get along. Basically I teach about love.”

The ornery traveler responded with absolute sincerity, “I’m glad to meet someone who shares my values!” [1]

The Bible recognizes this shortcoming and gives us these admonishments:
“See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:24

“A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart.”
Proverbs 21:2

“The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.”
Proverbs 14:8
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1. Michael B. Brown, Be All That You Can Be (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1995), p. 2; quoted in the sermon “Living With Difficult People,” by Rev. King Duncan, Seven Worlds Publishing (Kerux Sermon #23009).