It is easy to make judgments about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions But we should look beyond a person s actions When people do things that we consider outrageous

People tend to be biased. They tend to make judgments about others and define their character on the basis of a few actions. However this process of analyzing somebody else is inappropriate. It is important to know the motivation behind people’s actions. Only on learning about the cause behind actions we can say whether the path taken was right or not. The ends define the means . Sometimes a single can be better than a thousand truths.

It may happen that people are reluctant to listen to the problems of others. The police and security are so dogmatic of rules and laws that they do not excuse minor mistakes and term some decent people as criminals . This can have severe consequences. For example in the book “Les Miserable” Victor Hugo narrates the life of a poor man who became a criminal because he had stolen a loaf of bread. This man Jean Valejan was a destitute living I Paris with his wife and daughter. His daughter was starving and thus he had to steal a loaf of bread under such circumstances. But he was sent to prison for five years for this minor crime . He was quite worried and tried to escape prison. IN turn he was tortured for another fifteen years. The policeman who was in charge of him was so doctrinaire that he was keen on punishing Jean even after he was released . He had the thought in mind that Jean was a dangerous criminal. Only in the end did he realize he was totally wrong and regretted his mistake.

Many a time people tend to tell lies or hide their mistakes. This may not be because they fear to be punished but because they do not want other members of their family to be affected because of their actions. I remember that once my friend and I went to the music room without the teacher’s permission as I wanted to see my friend play guitar. In the midst of a song we heard the guitar teacher’s footsteps and realized that he was coming to the room. My friend was scared because if the teacher found her he would file a complain to the principal. The principal would certainly send a report to her parents and they would be very upset. Thus I ran out and told the teacher that the violin teacher was looking for him as he wanted to discuss the songs for the upcoming school orchestra. The teacher turned away and my friend was safe . I did not regret telling this lie because I knew that the consequences would be extremely harsh for my friend.

Thus on the whole some actions that may appear ethically or legally wrong may have some touch of goodness them or may be unavoidable . IN such cases that a person must be sensitive to the needs of others and try to understand other’s problems. It is important to be forgiving in such circumstances and avoid forming some fixed image.