“It was a cold winter morning, snowing all around, and a little girl was bundled up, gazing at the beautiful snowfall from behind her window pane. Her eyes fell upon a beautiful bird perched on a branch in the garden outside.
‘Poor little birdie,’ she thought, ‘she must be feeling so cold out there. Her life is so incomplete without the clothes that I’m wearing.’
She opened her window to wave at the birdie. The little bird looked at the girl waving at her and thought to herself, ‘That poor little creature, she must be feeling so cold in this winter. Her life is so incomplete without the feathers that I have on my body.’
Both are right in their own way. Both have found a way to survive; hence, no one is wrong.
I always remember this childhood story whenever I encounter somebody who is very different from me. When they have different philosophies, religions, beliefs, or lifestyles, I remind myself that ‘they are fine the way they are.’ Perhaps I am looking at them from my limited perspective and thinking, ‘Their life is incomplete without the perspectives that I have.’
As long as they are surviving, physically and mentally healthy, despite their ways differing from mine in extreme polarities, they are not wrong. They are different, but the opposite of right is not wrong; it’s just different. The sooner we can understand and see the world from another person’s perspective, the better we can adjust to their differences and allow them to live their lives in peace too.”