NEVER ASSUME
During a commencement speech
at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Gloria Steinem related an
important life lesson gleaned during her student years. On a geology field trip, she spotted a sizable
turtle that had hauled itself up some steep Connecticut River embankments and appeared
to be on a direct trajectory to the road. Fearful for the turtle’s life, Gloria pushed
and shoved it all the way back down to the river.
Observing this, her geology professor informed her that the turtle
had likely spent days of exhausting effort navigating those steep embankments to
arrive at its nesting spot. And now, one
naïve student (who surely thought she was doing a noble deed) had thoughtlessly
turned it around.
It’s a simple story with a very
valuable lesson. As outside observers,
we should be ever so careful to avoid making quick assumptions. Sometimes the methods and motives of the
other party may not be as apparent as they seem. So before we decide to intervene with
uninformed action, let’s pause for a moment.
Think. Communicate. Pray. It just might be that the other person is not as
wrong or off course as they seem. Not
knowing their full story, could it be possible that WE simply don’t understand?
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