The Facts Behind the Face

Often we wonder what makes men act the way they act and do the things they do. It is difficult to know what goes on inside another person. And because we don’t know, it is exceedingly easy to misjudge other men. We often see the outward effect, but frequently we fail to see the inward cause. Sometimes we observe a man who gives evidence of being embittered, who is persistently unpleasant, and we may wonder how he got that way. But unless we know his whole life, the factors and influences that have shaped him, we cannot fairly judge him. And we cannot know how we ourselves would act if we had been through similar circumstances. Sometimes people who are employed to perform some service are not so attentive to their assignments nor so considerate of those they are serving as it would seem they should be. And we may assume that they are deliberately sour and sullen. But they may have just come from a home where there is an unsolved family situation, where there is serious sickness or some cause for deep despondency. Often also we feel that even our friends are changeable. They sometimes seem pleasant and are sometimes distant and indifferent. We think they should be the same all the time. But it is not unlikely that we ourselves are as variable in our moods and manner as are our friends. All of us at times are deeply absorbed in our own perplexing problems.

There is a complex story behind the face of every man we see. This is true of the clerk at the counter, of the man who makes deliveries, of our next door neighbor, and even of our own fast friends. It is so easy to misjudge others without knowing more about them than we usually know. There is an old tradition of the theatre that the show must go on. And good troupers often entertain audiences when their hearts are heavy. We have all experienced this is some degree. The show must go on, and it does for most of us. We have to keep moving and meet many obligations whether we feel like it or not. We often have to go about our business no matter what kind of heartbreaks there are inside of us. And surely we should be slow to pass judgment on other people until we know more of what is hidden in their hearts.