Hasty Generalizations

Converse Accident: (hasty generalization) the fallacy of considering certain exceptional cases and generalizing to a rule that fits them alone. Note that the fallacy of converse accident is the opposite of accident.

Does having one experience in our life determine how we react to all other experiences like it, but in different situations? Are we sometimes too quick to judge because "it was like that once before, so this must be the same thing"?

I find myself questioning things I do based on past experience. I also find myself reacting as I once reacted when I was ignorant to many things. And I am drawing the conclusion that I need to change because reactions based on the past are adversely affecting my relationships of today.

In Conference this last weekend Elder Wickman, of the Seventy, spoke about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He talked about going back to Vietnam and expecting to find the war-ravaged country he knew as a soldier. Instead he found a country that was flourishing.

Do we go in to things expecting to find the memories of yesterday? Are you looking for yesterday and not enjoying today? Based on those experiences, are you making hasty generalizations?

"The drawing of a breath separates this world from the next," Elder Wickman said. This life is too short to live on past experiences and let them mar your potentially blossoming fields of tomorrow. The person we are today will be the same person we are in the next life.

Looking back on my potentially marring mistakes of yesterday, I may have missed out on the blossoming fields. I will never know if I don't make the effort to make it right, and in turn be given the opportunity to show the person I am today as I learn to change and become more Christ-like.

In FHE the other night, Melissa asked a question, "How does less equal more?"

For me, less criticism equals more love for those around me; less worldly influence equals more room for the influence of the Spirit in my life; less knowledge equals more faith and humility.

So, as I work to root the things I need less of out of my life, I find that my life is more fulfilling. In the process, I hope people will have patience with me and know that there are blossoming fields in sight.