Although we are to judge righteous judgement, we should never judge others presumptuously or hypocritically. Too many times we judge folks without knowing the facts. A good example of this folly is found in the following story.
A teacher began her story . . .A cruise ship met with an accident at sea. On the ship was a couple with an infant. Making their way to the lifeboat, they realized that there was only space for just one of them left. The lifeboat was drifting away and it would be a miracle if either could jump into it. At that moment, the man pushed the woman aside, grabbed the baby, and leaped onto the lifeboat himself. His wife stood on the sinking ship and shouted just one sentence to her husband.
The teacher stopped and asked, “What do you think she shouted?”Most of the students excitedly answered, “Why did you do that? I hate you!”
Now, the teacher noticed a boy who was silent throughout and called on him to answer. He replied, “Teacher, I believe she would have shouted, ‘Take care of our baby!’”
The teacher was surprised, asking “Have you heard this story before?”
The boy shook his head, “Nope, but that was what my mom told my dad before she died from cancer.”
The teacher lamented, “Your answer is correct. The cruise ship sank. The man went home and brought up their daughter single-handedly.”
Many years later after the death of the man, their daughter found his diary while tidying his belongings. It turns out that when her parents went onto the cruise ship, the mother was already dying from a terminal illness. At that critical moment, the father rushed to the only chance of survival for the sake of their child.
He wrote in his diary, “How I wished to sink to the bottom of the ocean with you, but for the sake of our daughter, I can only let you lie forever below the sea alone.”
The story was finished, the class was silent. The teacher reminded the children that we should never focus on the surface and judge others without understanding them first.
Things are not always as they seem–make sure you get the facts before you accuse others of wrong doing
