The World of Grandpa Don

Our Perceptions and Judgments

The following story was forwarded to me by Pat Bennet and at first would not seem to belong on this page.

Should children witness childbirth? 

Due to a power outage at the time, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very, very dark, so the paramedic asked Katelyn, a 3-year old girl, to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby. 

Very diligently, Katelyn did as she was asked. Heidi pushed and pushed, and after a little while Connor was born. The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry. The paramedic then thanked Katelyn for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-year old what she thought about what she had just witnessed. 

Katelyn quickly responded, "He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place. Smack him again!"

It's a cute story, I see it though, as a perfect example of the fact that what we perceive to be happening is always dependent on our own knowledge and experiences, or pre-conceived notions ... regardless of our age.

We should not be quick to judge because we may not know all the facts. We always think we know what we see or hear but do we really? 

We only see what is obvious and when we are observing the actions of another person, we see the results of that person's action. We do not know the cause of the action or the factors that influenced the person to do what was done. We do not even know if what we perceive to have seen or heard is what the person intended to do or say. 

In his book "Mere Christianity" C. S. Lewis spends an entire chapter on this subject. I think the story of Katelyn is a great example of his point. Be very slow to judge or better still, don't judge. Only God knows the entire story.

Don Plefka
03/06/03