Fools Are Quick To Judge

[Guest guest]

Fools Are Quick To Judge

By: Max Lucado, from his book: In The Eye of the Storm.

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before.People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. "This horse is not a horse to me," he would tell them. "It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?"The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse. One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. All the village came to see him. "You old fool," they scoffed, "we told you that someone would steal your horse. You are so poor. How could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone, and you've been

cursed with misfortune."The old man responded, "Don't speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I've been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?"The people contested, "Don't make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse."The old man spoke again. "All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I don't know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can't say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?"The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasn't, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, an old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. He lived

hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn't been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him.Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. 'Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us."The man responded, "Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don't judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?'Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a

fragment! Don't say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don't."'Maybe the old man is right," they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments."You were right," they said. "You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever."The old man spoke again. "You people are obsessed with judging.

Don't go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments."It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured.Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again."You were right, old man," they wept. "God knows you were right. This proves it. Your son's accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever."The old man spoke again. "It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one

knows. Say only this: Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows."The old man was right. We only have a fragment. Life's mishaps and disappointments are only a page out of a grand book. We must be slow about drawing conclusions. We must reserve judgment on life's storms until we know the whole story.

 

 

[Guest guest]

We always judge meaning deciding whether something is

a bleesing or a curse, good or bad. This is in our

human nature. When you get a job after being

unemployed for a long time you straight away say or

think it is a good job only later to discover that it

is a bad job. You can also make a judgement at the

beginning that it is a good job but later because of

your own fault perhaps or because the boss is bad the

job which was once perceived as a blessing becomes a

curse.

I live in a country where a Minister of Finance has

recently been arrested for improper decisions that he

made during his time in office. He amassed a lot of

wealth and caused the poor nation a loss of millions

of dollars. When he was appoined a Minister to him and

his family it was a blessing. The nation saw him as a

blessing as he was well educated and had worked in

government for a long time. Latter when he started to

fraud the government the blessing turned into a curse.

To him and his family the blessing of being appointed

to a Ministerial post continued to be a blessing (am

not right to say that the money he was stealing was

ablessing to his family but they perceived it as a

blessing as they lived in luxury.) To him the

Ministerial position continued to be a blessing as it

opened to him opportunities to amass wealth.

Now he has been dragged to court. This is definetly a

curse. My argument here is that it is in our nature to

judge always and decide that this is either a curse or

a blessing. The blessing can later continue to be a

blessing ad when it does we continue to judge and say,

This is a blessing.' When the blessing turns into a

curse we decide again, 'now this is a curse. " I hope

you see my line of thinking......

The interesting posting warns that although it is in

our nature to judge let us judge wisely and not be too

quick to judge and say 'This is a good government

minister., " This is a good President. " We have to

wait and see. It is true -Fools are Quick to judge