Misunderstood

Have you ever been misunderstood? I am sure you have, in fact I'm guessing we all have. Does it bother you to be misunderstood? Do you get used to it?

Let me clarify what I mean my misunderstood first. I am not talking about someone who hears you wrongly, I mean in your character. For example, people who are shy, or maybe timid. If someone tells them that they need to be more outgoing, they need to speak louder, or that they should change so they are more likable. Ever had that happen?

Of course, it has happened to me, in fact, it happened to me today. I am not normally a shy person, I am normally a complete opposite to shy. I am not timid, again, a complete opposite. That is not to say that I am obnoxious, but I am sharp; to the point.

Many times I forget to ask someone to do something, and just tell them to do it. While this comes off as bossy, my intentions are right.

I also speak loudly. I have a bit of a hearing problem due to the work I performed on jets, while in the Navy. When you combine speaking loudly, and being short with people, it often comes off as mean or angry. I am not an angry person, nor is it intentional.

So this is my predicament: Is it something that a person can change, or is it a personality trait? Is it a character flaw, or a fingerprint of God's?

This makes me think about other creatures of God's. Many times we mistake and misunderstand animals in the wild. We think one thing, but later learn that we were way off. Lions are a great example of this. Their often portrayed as killers, man eaters, in fact, the males dont even do much of the killing in nature. The males are the ones who protect the young, and the territory. The mane on male lions is designed (yes designed... by God) to give the illusion of size. Bears are another animal misunderstood. Those are traits to the animal, they aren't bad qualities, so why is it considered bad in humans?