Things Are Often Not What They Seem

Recently, when I came home from doing errands, I was greeted by the concern of a family member, who told me they had seen worms inside the lid of  a container of leftover fried rice we had eaten for lunch, as well as on the lid from the kidney bean can I had used in the fried rice.

I was appalled. I knew I should look at the “evidence,” but I didn’t even want to face it. So disgusting!

I finally got up the courage to go and face this repulsive situation. I took one look and was filled with relief! The “worms” were nothing more than leftovers of the basmati rice that I had made two days before. When I emptied the container of rice, I didn’t wash it out before putting the fried rice leftovers in it, as the fried rice was made out of that same rice. The “worms” on the can lid were grains of the rice that were on the end of my cooking spoon as I scooped out the kidney beans from the can.

So many negative emotions were unnecessarily felt due to this situation not being what it appeared to be. Happily the facts were examined, and great was the relief all round to find out that it was not what it had seemed.

Life is like that. Things are not always, in fact, things are often not what they seem. Someone might feel slighted when they see their friends all huddled together talking, and then stop talking when they appear, when they are actually planning a surprise for that friend.

I have often been mistaken regarding something involving my children when I don’t know all the facts. Once all the facts are explained to me, I see my assumptions have been based on what little I saw or heard and that these assumptions were wrong.

This is aggravated when we come to a situation with our own prejudices. I see this in politics all the time. Recently, I saw an outcry on Facebook about something a certain politician apparently said. It so happened that I ended up watching this very speech of the aforementioned politician and was surprised to find out how much this comment had been taken out of context and blown up out of proportion, and that all the good things he said in the speech that didn’t fit the narrative of those who hate him, weren’t mentioned.

I knew this already, but this was another reminder. I will have to hold off believing and making a judgement on what I read or hear, whether it is positive or negative, regarding someone I support or oppose in politics, unless I have ample first-hand evidence, such as seeing a whole speech and not just a clip or quote or knowing more facts). Things are not always what they appear, and we would do well to humbly acknowledge, that in spite of all the “information” out there (that is not necessarily accurate), we are not experts, or even very knowledgeable about all these things that we tend to think we are.

But politics aside, in our dealings with people (or with leftovers!) it is good to remember, that things are often not what they seem. Further investigation is often the best course of action, and of course, giving others the benefit of the doubt is always wise.