Do you take the time to question intentions?

When somebody wrongs you, or seems to wrong you, or annoys you, or hurts you… do you ever stop to wonder why?

Intentions are a slippery thing. You never really know another person’s intentions, you only know your own. But through deductive reasoning it’s safe to assume that you can at the very least Guess at another person’s intentions, right? Shouldn’t you ask yourself, in any situation, “why is this person saying/doing these things?”

I feel like some people jump too quickly to a person’s actions as a testament to their character. People seem too quick to condemn each other without pausing to question why a person has done such a thing. Am I alone in thinking this?

I don’t mean to say that a person should not be held responsible for their actions, or that we should all strive to be psychics. I’m just saying that maybe we should all slow down, think, and try to understand one another. Right?

What do you think about intentions? Are they worth speculating on?

This isn’t part of the question. I ask because of my new girlfriend. Apparently when some people are stressed out about work/school and other pressures they take it out on their significant others… She has been unable to sleep, and therefore cranky, and it seems like anything I say or do pisses her off. For example, I ask her “What can I do to help” and she yells “You can’t help”, so I say “Well do you want to talk about it”, and she says “I can’t”... It’s not yet unhealthy, it’s just a recent thing… if it gets worse I’ll break it off, don’t worry. Anyway, I know how to handle the situation, and therefore it’s not the subject of my question. I just know that I personally always try to recognize my SO’s intentions when they’re upsetting me, because if they’re genuinely trying to be a good SO I want to recognize that before taking it out on them. Apparently she hasn’t mastered this skill yet. We’ll see how it plays out.