A young man in his early twenties seeing out from the train’s window shouted, “Dad, look the trees are going by!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the twenty something year old’s childish behavior with pity.

Suddenly he again exclaimed, “Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the young man’s father, “Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”

The boy’s father unassumingly, smiled and said, “I did, and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he is seeing for the first time today.”

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple, short story.

First, it is easy to make assumptions based on what we may first see or hear. Too often we jump to conclusions without knowledge of the facts. Assumptions and jumping to conclusions like this can cause detrimental effects in our own lives and those around us.

The second lesson I see here is that every person has a story. Take time to learn and to listen to the stories of others. Other people’s stories can encourage and build us up in a way that will enrich our own lives and our story.

Rather than listen to another person’s story, it is easier to judge people before you truly know them.  When you are tempted to judge someone, first, stop and ask yourself if you know their story. If not, why not ask them to share their story. Carefully listen, the truth might surprise you. Then, see for the first time a brand new view from the train of life.