Learn to look without labels

There are people we stop looking at because we assume we already know them. We stick a label on them and, from then on, everything they say seems predictable. That happens at home, with friends, in class, at work, and also inside the Church. It is not always ill intent. Sometimes it is weariness, old wounds, or the comfort of not listening again. Looking without labels does not mean denying reality. It means leaving room for the other person to surprise you, change, or show something you had not seen. Charity often starts by removing a filter before speaking.