Glasses

 There was once a village where every child received a pair of glasses on their seventh birthday.

Some glasses made everything look brighter.

Some made everything look darker.

Some made people seem larger than life.

Some made every flaw impossible to ignore.

The children loved comparing whose glasses were best. Soon they stopped listening to each other because each was certain they were seeing the world as it truly was.

One day an old lens maker arrived carrying a wooden box.

Inside were empty frames.

"No lenses?" the children laughed.

"Oh, they're empty on purpose," the old maker said. "Before you choose how to see the world, you must first know that every lens changes what you see."

The children didn't understand.

So the maker took them to a hill overlooking the village.

"Tell me what you see."

"I see beautiful homes."

"I see broken fences."

"I see people working."

"I see people struggling."

Every answer was true.

Every answer was incomplete.

The maker smiled.

"The world is rarely hidden from us. It is filtered through us."

The children grew quiet.

He handed each of them a small pouch.

Inside were many tiny lenses.

"Courage."

"Mercy."

"Curiosity."

"Discipline."

"Patience."

"Truth."

"Wisdom."

"Humility."

"You'll spend your whole life changing these," he said. "Some days you'll need one. Some days another. The mistake is believing a single lens can explain the whole world."

Years later, the wisest people in the village weren't the ones who always had the right answers.

They were the ones who knew when to change their glasses.

Moral:

The clearest vision doesn't come from having the strongest opinion.

It comes from knowing which lens the moment requires.