We were recently asked what we see about people appearing to be less considerate of others in their relationships, families, and communities. It seems that a growing focus on one's own individual desires and wants is leading people, especially young people, to be inconsiderate of others in their everyday actions.
While that may be true, and while it is worthwhile to make people aware when they are being inconsiderate, lack of consideration may not be an individual "fault".
We live in a paradigm in which the individual, not the relationship, is seen as the basic unit of existence. Concerns about self are paramount in many people's lives.
Also, most of us are unaware that any two people in relationship are not in a relationship; they are in two relationships. There is A's relationship with B; and there is B's relationship with A; and they are not the same, and cannot be, even though they are commonly (and mistakenly) called a relationship.
Just as it is impossible to see out of another's eyes, it is impossible to have exactly the same point of view as another; a relationship is seen and experienced from at least two different perspectives. They may be similar, but they cannot be the same. To argue with others in order to get them to adopt your point of view is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It frustrates you and annoys the pig.
When you realize that in a family, there are as many different expriences of the family as persons in the family, you may begin to listen and see what the others' experiences are like. And listening to another so as to see their world, their experience - without trying to change it - may be the ultimate expression of consideration - with the bonus of possibly learning something new about the other.