Benefit/Doubt

Someone once told me that they'd give me the benefit of the doubt.

Literally, the benefit of the doubt is the gift of not believing. If that's the case, isn't this just a gift that we generously give to people who are different than us? If that's the case, we're actually more generous than we thought.

It's true. We see things that we want to see and then tell ourselves that we can't see anything else because it's unclear to us. We're not blind; but we refuse to see. Doubt isn't something that you give people. It's something that's instilled in us and makes us intolerant. The best we can hope for is that doubt will not define us. What we can hope for is something to believe in.

Maybe we're not asking for change. Maybe we're looking for someone to give the gift of believing in us. If that's the case, the benefit of the doubt is clearly no gift. It's just giving us an excuse to judge people.

I am no optimist, but I've realized that sometimes it's nice to give someone some of the benefit and not just the doubt.

- Whitney Hua