Have you ever been in a position where you think you are right and the other person is wrong? Have you been misjudged and never knew until someone made you realise how oblivious you are?
I once read the story of a family that moved into a new neighbourhood. They were living next door to a couple that lived in the area for many years. They spread their clothes on the line outside and brought them back in at the end of the day. They did not know that they had a very keen observer watching their actions.
The lady next door observed them; especially their washing spread on the line outside and constantly saw that it was not clean. It happened to be the case continually, so she felt she needed to do something about it. She summoned the courage to talk to her husband about it and concluded that they were probably dirty or could not wash their clothes properly.
The husband was quiet and did not make any comments, but the wife became more agitated and told her husband that she would like to have a word with them to inform them that their washing skills require some improvement. The husband advised her to give them some time that they are likely to realise if they were doing something wrong.
The wife persisted and fixed a date to go and visit them to make her opinion known and give them a piece of her mind. A day before the convenient time, she woke up and decided to look through the windows to the garden and had a glare at the clothes spread on the line of the family next door. This time she discovered something different. She could not keep it to herself, so she hurriedly went to her husband to tell him what she now found.
The husband got up and followed her to have a look at her discovery. She told her husband to see the neighbours clothing on the line and that it was clean. She commented that they must have been listening to their conversations and probably taking to the corrections. She told her husband, ‘if you had allowed me to go sooner, I would have informed them and probably would have changed much earlier.’
The husband broke the silence after some minutes. ‘I do not think that is what happened, my dear. I think they did not change anything, but I did because I cleaned our windows last night. It is probably the reason you could now see those clothes in their true colour.’
The lady was shocked and quiet. She thought that she probably could have embarrassed herself if she had gone to the family next door. She was wrong, but she never knew.
Sometimes, we never realise that we are wrong but think another person is at fault, so we hurry to correct them. Some may even be upset with people and never understand that they have misjudged the situation. They find it easy to blame others while they assume they are right.
There is a place for correcting other people, but one should not ignore the critical part of examining and speaking the truth to oneself. If you point your index finger at others, you must realise that your middle, ring and pinky will be pointing towards you. It could be a graphic way of saying that you should focus more on yourself before focusing on others—you may be the judge that is wrong without knowing.
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