Life has drama. As long as we have life, we will have some drama.

But there is drama and there is manufactured drama. We deal with the first. It’s a fact of life. We’re going to find ourselves in a variety of dramatic situations whether we like it or not.

But the manufactured drama is a bit more difficult to deal with. I’m not talking about differing perspectives on drama, one person defining something as drama while another says it’s not drama.

We rarely admit to manufacturing drama, but we often blame others for it. We point the finger and proclaim someone is being dramatic about something (and it’s obvious we don’t approve and see ourselves as “so beyond” whatever their drama is). But we refuse to see their perspective. Perhaps there’s more real drama than we understand. Perhaps we’re not willing to step into the mess long enough to see the reality of the drama. Perhaps there’s a confluence of several contributing factors that makes one person see it differently – more or less dramatic – than another.

Claiming someone is dramatic has become a popular, socially-acceptable way to judge someone for responding to a situation in a way we don’t approve, just as the term “passive-aggressive” has been generalized and misapplied to blame people for a wide variety of ways we feel they mistreat us.

Truth.

We need to get to the truth.

Ironically, we are being dramatic when we exaggerate someone else’s response as dramatic. In reality, someone might simply want to talk about an issue. That’s not necessarily being dramatic. It might be the responsible, honest way to deal with something. Or someone might be passionate about another person or issue. That’s not necessarily being dramatic. It might be helpful and generous.

Just because someone doesn’t deal with an issue or person in the same way you prefer doesn’t means there’s drama. Drama and difference aren’t the same thing.

It’s a good thing we have different perspectives about things. It’s how we can problem-solve, cooperate, and cope together. Why waste our time and energy pointing fingers at each other? Dealing with the everyday reality of life is challenging enough without adding to the drama of it all.