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Tuesday 9 February 2010

A Moral to Share

I received a chain email today. Usually I do not bother reading chain emails but this one attracted my attention because it was written in Chinese. I was touched by the story and its moral. I thought I would share the moral of the story here with everyone.

"这个世界上,真相只有一个,可是在不同人眼中,却会看出不同的是非曲直。这是为什么呢?其实,道理很简单,因为每个人看待事物,都不可能站在绝对客观公正的立场上,而是或多或少地戴上有色眼镜,用自己的经验、好恶和道德标准来进行评判,结果就是——我们看到了假象。"

Below is my translation of the above for those who can't read Chinese. Please bear with me if I make mistakes in my translation (but I hope not as I once took a translation course and did pretty well for it lol).

"There is only one truth in this world but in the eyes of different people, the truth changes. Why is that so? Actually, the reason is simple. It is impossible for anyone to take a truly objective stand when looking at things. But more or less, we put on coloured glasses, using our own experiences, our likes and dislikes, and our moral standards to judge. The result is - we see an erroneous perception of the truth."

The moral is really meaningful and has jolted me into thinking. I am guilty of such erroneous perceptions of the truth at one time or another. :( I am apt to be quick in jumping to conclusion, in forming my impression of someone, some matters. I shall bear this moral in mind to learn more before jumping to the conclusion.

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