What You See Is Not Always What It Is

We often see the world through the glasses of our own perception. Our rational mind judges the things it sees in the outer world and gives its own meaning using the beliefs we have accumulated over the years. We often see people smiling, laughing and having fun and we start judging their life. We think about how good is their life. We think about how happy and joyful their life is. And then we think about our circumstances and ponder over all the reasons why our life is not good enough and not that happier. We tend to judge people with their external behaviours. But sometimes you can’t even imagine what they are going through internally and what situations they have been facing all over. It could be far more beyond what we can even think about.

Let me share with you a small story. It was a warm sunny morning and Jack was driving his car as he was on his way to attend a business meeting while a piece of cool music was playing in the car. Suddenly, a car came rushing from behind and almost missed Jack’s car by a couple of inches as it overtook in a very rash manner. Jack somehow saved the accident, but he could not believe what had happened. He was very upset and fuming with anger. He decided to speed up and follow that car so that he can teach a lesson to that car driver. A little way further, there was a hospital and that car stopped in front of the hospital gate and the man rushed his way into the hospital. Jack parked his car and chased that man quickly and started screaming at him in anger and explained how he avoided the accident. The man kindly apologised and explained that his son was in that hospital and was taking his last few breaths as his eyes got tearful. He wept and said that he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his son. Listening to his, Jack realised how rude he was to that man and how he judged that person to be a bad driver. Jack was disappointed and he felt regret about his behaviour with that man. Jack solaced the man and sympathised with him and then left quietly.

As William Shakespeare noted,

"All that glitters is not gold".

Our mind is a meaning-making machine and we give meaning to everything that we see and experience in our life. But things are not always what we see. Sometimes the reality is completely different. We can never know the pain hidden behind the glorious smile. So, never judge anyone. Everyone is going through some kind of pain that you never know or have any idea about. Be kind to people, always. Be the reason for someone’s smile. Be compassionate with everyone. Kindness doesn’t cost you, and it can make a difference in someone else’s life.