Teaser: Walk Two Moons
Two phrases that sum up all there is to know about how people work
There’s a longread coming this Friday! And here’s a teaser:
Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins
Everyone has his own agenda
—From Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
I first read the above book in middle school; I’ve since reread it many times—just as recently as couple of years ago. There’s a lot to like in the story—humor, pathos, mystery, drama, communion, misunderstandings—all the things that define our individual human journeys on this planet. And yet how differently they happen to each of us!
These particular quotes come from a particular plotline: Our protagonist Sal and her friend Phoebe find them left anonymously at her front door. Because of all the other mysteries going on—from a disappeared mother to a potential lunatic—Sal and Phoebe believe the quotes are clues to a bigger puzzle. In the end, nothing is what they assume even as they discover the unexpected answers were right in front of them.
Throughout my life, I often come back to these sayings. This week, I thought about them a lot as I dealt with:
A business situation in which it seemed as if a client and my team were completely misaligned on project goals.
An educational situation in which multiple students treated me as the gatekeeper to their lives.
A potential gig situation in which we discussed how to unlock people’s confidence in low-stakes situations like talking to an executive who came to be asked questions anyway.
My own intern telling me in a 1:1 how she thought she knew me but “I’m learning so much.”
Why do I think about these sayings? Because they’ve often grounded me from making invalid assumptions when I’m having issues with people. They are often the simple answers behind so many confounding professional and life situations. Let’s look at each one.
Stay tuned for the full read this Friday!!