I was doing table witnessing at the local mall once and I was assigned with this nice sister from another congregation. She was very fun and I was enjoying the service shift (as always). Well, suddenly this family walked by; a husband, his wife and their older son. As they headed towards the mall enterance and walked past our table, the husband blurted out “that’s good!” As he pointed to our table full of literature and JW.ORG signs. The wife then made eye contact and gave me a slight, but kind smile. I smiled right back. As they entered the mall, their son turned around and waved at us. I thought “they seemed nice”.
Right after the family had gone, the sister I was with admitted, “well, they weren’t very nice.” Confused, I looked around at the empty mall entrance lobby and clearly could not see anyone else to whom she could have been referring her comment to. I asked her, “who wasn’t nice?” “That family that just passed us”, she said. I was So confused. I asked her why she thought they weren’t nice.
Her perspective blew me away:
As the family walked past our table, the husband blurted out, “that’s worse!” As he pointed to our table full of literature and JW.ORG signs. The wife then looked at us and gave us a look of disapproval. As the family was entering the mall, their son turned around and waved his finger at us and shook his head.
I quickly explained to her my perspective, and she was just as mind blown as I was! How could two sister have seen the exact same thing, but interpreted the entire scenario in completely opposite forms? The sister didn’t seem like the negative type, in fact, she was very joyful and was smiling the whole time we were there. True, I will admit that I am incredibly optimistic about things, but I always notice when others are upset… I think. I suppose it’s one of those things that makes me analyze myself and question my own judgements.
Perhaps it was the heat? It was towards the end of the shift anyway. Still, I cannot fathom how differently we read the situation. Was she right?… Was I right?… Maybe we were both wrong?… Perhaps we will never find out.
Releasing Ropes 