the windows that we look through

Once somewhere in South Asia, there was a young couple who lived in a lovely home in a beautiful neighborhood. They had nice people in the community but for some reason, the wife absolutely hated the woman who lived next door to them. One morning as they were about to have their breakfast, the lady saw through the window that her neighbor was hanging clothes on the clothesline. 

She pointed this out to her husband, “Do you see how dirty their clothes are even after they’ve washed them? Maybe she can take a few lessons on how to wash them correctly. She’s really bad.”

Her husband listened but didn’t say anything to her. Now, whenever the lady would see her neighbor hanging her clothes to dry, she would instantly make some insensitive remarks about her.

A few weeks passed by, and one morning, the lady again saw her neighbor hanging her clothes. But this time,  she was in for a surprise. Right away, she said to her husband, “Wow! Did you see that? Finally, her clothes are clean. I bet someone else washed this time for her.” The husband didn’t give any reaction and simply responded, “That’s not true, sweetheart. I actually got up early this morning and washed our windows.”

We all make this mistake at some point in our lives. Our perception of others largely depends on the window we are looking through, and not for who they truly are. That’s why it’s important to wash our own windows. Because when we do that, we change our vision and our perception as well.