If you try to see the best in others, you have to let go of a dangerous idea: the belief that people should be free of anything that makes you uncomfortable.
Perfection is an illusion we project onto others when we want the world to feel orderly, predictable, or safe. But people are not clean abstractions. They are layered, inconsistent, unfinished. Expecting otherwise doesn’t make us virtuous—it makes us rigid.
Recognizing goodness requires something harder than judgment. It requires acceptance. Not approval of harm, not denial of accountability—but a willingness to acknowledge human complexity without turning it into a flaw.
Every person has something to teach us if we’re willing to listen. Even difficult people act as mirrors. They reveal our patience, our boundaries, our fears, and sometimes our blind spots. What irritates us often points to something unresolved within ourselves.
Looking for the good in others is not naïve optimism. It’s a discipline. It asks us to see beyond single moments, single traits, or single mistakes. It reminds us that growth rarely looks clean while it’s happening.
When you notice goodness in others, something subtle shifts. You become more forgiving—not just toward them, but toward yourself. Self-confidence grows not from comparison, but from recognition: If others can be imperfect and still worthy, so can I.
Sometimes we find the good in others while we are actively doing good—choosing patience over reaction, curiosity over certainty, action over judgment. That work changes us first.
The price of seeing goodness is giving up perfection.
And it’s a small price to pay.
