“A cruise ship had an accident at sea and was about to sink. A couple ran towards the lifeboat to save themselves. Once there, they realized that there was only a place for one person left. Soon the husband jumped ahead of his wife to get the place. The wife could only stare at him shouting a sentence before the lifeboat moved away and the ship completely sank her.”

The teacher who told this story asked his students, “What do you think the wife shouted?”

Most of the students replied:

“I hate you!”

“You know I’m blind!!”

“You are selfish!”

“Shame on you!”

But the teacher then realized that a student was silent. The teacher asked the silent student to answer. The student said, “Sir, I’m sure the wife must have shouted, ‘Please take good care of our child.’”

The teacher was surprised and asked, “Have you heard this story before?”

The student shook his head. “No. But that’s what my mother said before she died of a chronic illness.”

The teacher stared at the whole class and said, “This answer is correct. The ship then sank completely and the husband took care of their child alone. Years later after the husband died, the child found his father’s diary. There he discovers that, by the time his parents board the yacht, they already know that the mother has a chronic illness and will soon die. That’s why, in that moment of emergency, his father decided to take his only chance of survival. He wrote in the diary, ‘How I wish I had died under the sea with you. But for the sake of our child, I must let you sink alone for eternity down there.’”

The story is over. And the whole class silent.

The teacher knew that the students now understood the moral of the story, that good and evil in this world are not as simple as we often think. There are all kinds of complications and reasons behind them that are sometimes difficult to understand.

That’s why we should never look just outside and then immediately judge, let alone without knowing anything.

Those who often pay for others may not mean they are rich, but because they value relationships over money.

Those who work without anyone telling them to, may not be because they are stupid, but because they value the concept of responsibility.

Those who first apologize after a fight, maybe not because they are guilty, but because they value others.

Those who reach out to help you, maybe not because they feel in debt, but because they consider you are a friend.

Those who contact you often, maybe not because they don’t have a busy life, but because you are in their hearts.

Those who often flatter you sky-high, maybe not because you are a hero, but maybe because they forgive your ugliness.

That’s why,”Don’t be so quick to judge, you never know what is really going on with someone until you’ve walked in their shoes.”