Principles – “Decisions” – Saturday 25th of March, 2017

   On our life journey, we face situations and meet different people with different personality types. Human interactions include many decisions man has to take. One of the most critical decisions is to be so close or distant from people you meet in life. However one of life principles that we should keep in mind is that people ought to justly judge others.

   In fact, judgments people tend to make do not affect positively or negatively those people, but rather those who judge themselves. For instance, if you are not fair, you will lose nothing, but good people you may not meet as such again. On the contrary, this will let some other people be closer to you but unworthy to be close. In both cases, this will leave a negative impact on your life.

   Take quick look to history and you will find many rulers, kings and emperors who became successful because they kept honest and sincere counselors around. They encouraged them to do good deeds and take better care of their people. They say, “Do not hasten to judge people, you may wrong a dear person and elevate a cheap one” and in the end you will deal with the results of your own decisions.

   To judge fairly you are not to judge a person by his appearance. Oscar Wilde, the prominent English writer and playwright said, “It is only shallow people who judge by appearances.”

   I recall the situation adopted the University of Harvard’s president in Boston, 1884. He judged his guests, who wanted to erect a building at the university as a memorial to their departed son, by their appearances and spoke to them with disdain. Accordingly, they decided to erect a university that carries their family name “Stanford”. As for the president, he lost a donation that would have the same value of building a building in the university he presided over.

   Also do not be like the rich man who was so angry, thinking that those people were running after him for money, when seeing a poor person approaching him. While he was drawn in those thoughts, the poor person said to him,” Here is your wallet, sir. You dropped it”. Remember, noble souls are not manifest except through their actions. Thus, do not hasten to judge a person by his appearance. As there are many adorable souls hidden under a plain appearance yet not void of extraordinary beauty and deepness.

General Bishop

Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center