I was going through the Ignatian approach to education today (adapted from the Spiritual Exercises for those keeping track at home) and this tenet is just so good.
St. Ignatius says that a person, “ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.Further, if one cannot interpret it favorably, one should ask how the other means it. If the meaning is wrong, one should correct the person with love; if this is not enough, one should search out every appropriate means through which, by understanding the statement in a good way, it may be saved.”
This is very Hanlon’s razor (never attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity/ignorance) and I just feel like having a curious posture like this is a major slay and makes us better people
