It often happens that comments are made and judgments are passed about things or people based only on their appearance. Nothing could be less just or defensible. Giving one's uninformed opinion, especially about others, is not at all fair - even more so if the man or woman we are commenting on is a complete stranger.
The person we want to tell you about in this article knows something about this fact. He is a man who, on an ordinary day, gave an important lesson to a little girl - and her ignorant mother. Let's find out what happened when the man gave a "lecture" to the woman who he bumped into by sheer chance.
The subject of this story is Andy Ross, a man who lives in Vancouver, Washington, and who, by pure chance, met two strangers to whom he gave an important life lesson. The man had just finished work when he went to a shop to do some shopping before returning home. Running his errands, Andy noticed a little girl was watching him very studiously. The man had a slightly dirty face (from work) and he guessed this was why the little girl was staring at him so intently. So far, so good - nothing abnormal about this, we can say. The child's mother told her not to stare at at the man because it is not good manners and, with that, the story should have been over. So, it was too bad that the mother made another comment - just before leaving the shop - to which Andy felt compelled to respond.
"This is why you have to keep going to school, otherwise you will turn out to be just like that dirty man": this is what the mother said to her daughter in reference to her staring at the dirty-faced man. With such a comment, the mother betrayed all of her prejudices and ignorance. But obviously, this assumption was completely unjustified and untrue. The man, at this point, approached the woman and gave her some advice (and a good life lesson).
In the story posted on his Facebook page, Andy recounted what he said to the mother: "I am a dirty, but I am an educated person. Assuming that I am an uneducated loser just because of my appearance, hides, in fact, quite a lot of the ignorance that you have. I have a college degree and various other graduate degrees. I'm dirty because I've just finished work. I've tried to work an office job, but I get bored quickly because I love doing practical things with my hands, not because I'm an uneducated person. My job is fantastic, I make good money and I have a wonderful family." This is a summary of the lecture Andy gave to the mother and her daughter.
This lecture was followed by a cordial farewell from the stranger with a dirty face and a hope that the mother not to fall into making a similar error ever again. We must never judge others by their external appearance - we cannot know who we are criticizing and could make a huge mistake (which could also hurt someone badly).
This is sound advice that many web users have agreed with and have shared. It's a lesson that makes us reflect on how we behave on a daily basis and on how essential it is to always think before acting (or, as in this case, before speaking). It's a lesson that each of us should keep in mind and from which to take some inspiration from to behave properly. As the clever word-play expression goes: when you "assume" something, you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me"!
What do you think about this story? Would you have said the same thing to this mother if you were in Andy's shoes?
