You can’t judge a book by its cover, but by its heart

This archived article was written by: Caitlin Wright

Everyone is an open book. It just depends on what kind of book; that is the question. There are many different genres of literature it is too generalizing to say that every person falls under the same category.
Some people are mystery novels. You know what you are reading, but can’t quite decipher what is going to happen. You have to get to the end of the story to figure it out. Some are like children stories, like myself, and anyone with a second grade thought process can read the emotions we have stuck out on our sleeves. Others are like the classics, deeply rooted in emotion and human feelings and they are often difficult to understand. The list goes on and on.
Although some stories may be similar, no two books are exactly alike. This is just like people. Everyone is different and everyone has their own opinions, goals, dreams and hopes. I believe the phrase “You can’t judge a book by its cover” holds a lot of truth. Everyone is different and we cannot possibly know every type of person there is in the world. No human has ever read every book ever written, so how can that person ever have the pride to say, “I know all the literature?” They can’t. Perhaps they can relate better than others, but no one can really know.
The point is we don’t have a right to judge others, when we ourselves have faults and are imperfect. We as people certainly have the right to judge whether or not someone is the type of person we want to associate with, for our own sakes or even safety for example, but it must go no farther than that. No one has been in every type of situation, how then can we pass judgment on someone who is going through something totally unrelated to ourselves?
The reason I write on this topic is because I see it. I see it every day at work, at school and even among friends sometimes. Don’t think I attempt to exclude myself from this, because I am guilty as charged. I only wish to convey the importance of acceptance, especially in our world today where everything is tinged with poisonous elements. Generally speaking, there is no longer anything that is sacred. Nothing is based on integrity or honesty because no one seems to have these characteristics anymore. Our society is continually being bled out; bled out of trust, service and compassion.
It irks me to see people in the state they are in. It pains me to know that no one is willing to give anyone else the opportunity to prove themselves and put themselves in a good light. And how can we when so much in this world is like a carnival mirror. Everything that we see is warped and twisted and if we aren’t careful, we will lose sight of the truth. We will lose sight of what is good and there still is good in the world. We just have to be willing to search for it a little more.
I don’t write this to judge. I hope that we can be better people. I wish that people can be more accepting of each other and make choices and do things so people can be more accepting of us.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The problem may not be racism, but prejudice. I pray that we can all look above our own prejudice and see who people are on the inside. That we can look past our issues and read what is contained within the heart. You can’t judge a book by its cover.