I spent the last few days traveling around the Mid-West with my dad and brother. We went to monuments, Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore. We spent time talking in the hot tub, by a fire, and over meals. It was enlightening. Experiences like these, ones where you spend a chunk of time with family, always seem to accelerate growth. The learning that comes from being with people closest to you is really unfathomable from a more secluded perspective.
I live alone, and spend most of my time involved with philosophy. I'm always trying to understand how it all works, and really get to know the environment that we find ourselves in. I dance and sing, and nobody really has say in what I do. However, when I'm with other people, compromise becomes important, and negotiation tends to weave its way into my life. Before this trip, I thought compromise was giving everybody at least part of what they wanted at the same time, but I learned that compromise like that can eliminate the opportunity for people to get what they really want. For example, I'm vegan, and my dad and brother love steak. If we were to compromise and eat at someplace for everybody, then they might not be able to get the best steak. So, we went to a couple steakhouses when we were on the trip, and at the last one, there wasn't anything I could eat other than a salad, so after dinner, we went to pick up dinner for me. What I learned was, reasonable compromise in this case was delaying what I wanted, so that my family could have what they wanted as well. They had ribs and steak, and it was seemingly the best meal of the trip for them, which was worth the trade for them to have to drive over to grab something for me before we got home to watch a movie.
Compromise is an important part of any relationship. We give one another the opportunity to experience what we would otherwise lack because it makes people happy, and it's good to see other people enjoying themselves. It makes the world a better place.