Principles – “The Bag” – Saturday 13th of May, 2017

   We proceeded with tackling the issue of considerations that may affect one’s judgment on others. A friend offered his comment on that article in two-minute video and one-word message, “True”. The short video was going on inside a classroom where a teacher was inspecting students’ bags. Then, she came to inspect a bag belonged to one of the girls who insisted on not giving her bag to her teacher and held it so tight. The teacher was frustrated believing the girl was hiding something she took or rather stole from her friend, thus she was bent on discovering the contents of that girl’s bag.

   The more the teacher insisted on checking the bag, the more the girl refused letting go of it,till the headmaster came to take the girl and the teacher to her office where facts were revealed. The girl was hiding the bag where there was a sack contained leftovers of her colleagues’ food that she collected to satisfy the hunger of her younger siblings.

   While the conversation went on, they discovered the girl’s brother was in jail and as a result her mother died and the girl became her family’s sole provider.

   The girl refused that her bag be inspected not for being a thief as her teacher thought, but in the hope of not appearing destitute before her colleagues so she turn to be the topic of their sympathy or scorn. So, dear reader, be careful not to untie your tongue and judge others as you may add to their pain while they were in dire need for mercy and kindness. Moreover, do not follow others and judge a person according to their opinions as you do not know the reasons or circumstances beyond their opinion.

   Keep in mind, my friend, the world is full of complete absurd paradoxes, so give the people the chance to express themselves and their actions would show you the truth. It is indisputable that the situations we go through are the best to reveal facts to us. You should not also judge a person according to one situation, but rather consider the whole situations in which you dealt with him as there may be other factors that made him act in a strange way that did not suit his nature.

   Here, I am not referring to parents who warn their children from bad company as one must not risk taking a way full of dangerous signs.

   Moreover do not be deceived by sweet talk and at the same time do not ignore a sincere advice. I liked a wise saying that recites, “A person’s tongue is a book thrown on the floor: do not evade reading it and do not believe all what is mentioned in it as well” So keep your mind and your eyes fisted on the words and actions of others altogether. They say, “If you want to know how a person’s character is like, look at their attitude towards their juniors not their seniors”

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center