Seeing is believing; or is it?

“Things are not always what they seem;
the first appearance deceives many;
the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” 
Phaedrus

Picture this – a bus stop at 9.15 am on a winter’s day.  Sitting on a seat waiting for the bus to come was a very harassed mother.  Very pregnant, 2 babies in a stroller – they couldn’t have been two years old  and two children who looked liked twins about 4 years old.  My thoughts immediately rushed into feeling sorry for this young mother.  After a short time another young woman came out of the chemist shop.  She came up to the stroller and took the handle after thanking the other woman.  The children in the stroller were obviously hers. So instead of having 4 children under 5 and another on the way, the first mother had two children and another on the way.  Judgment on my part without knowing all the facts.

Pregnant woman searching in the cabbage patch. Photo Pavel Lovesky

This all happened in a very short space of time while we waited for the bus and it reminded me of a story I heard several years ago that illustrates this point beautifully:

A woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.
Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind.  The woman had noticed her as she walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight.  She could also tell the woman had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, “Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?” The blind lady replied, “No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs.”

Picture this –

All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog.  The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines.

I know you probably have all heard this story before.  Is it a true story?  Perhaps but have a great day and remember…

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR TO BE

“You can learn a great deal by just sitting back and observing what is happening around you.
Pay attention to everything you see and hear in the next few days, it may contain a valuable lesson
for you.”
Judith Baxter, Blogger, friend.