Thursday, February 03, 2005

ASSUMPTIONS

My 4000-piece jigsaw puzzle is coming along nicely; thanks for asking.
The image is of hundreds of cartoon dragons overrunning a comical map of Europe. When I find a piece with a dragon's hand, it should be easy, right? Just find a piece with a dragon's arm and stick it on.

Well, it's not so easy. Each dragon is slightly different. Each piece is slightly different. Even the background for each is slightly different.

People are like that, too. We can easily assume what somebody is thinking or feeling, or what their intentions are, based on how we feel or how we have observed other people acting. But we can just as easily err.

We must be careful not to assume how people fit into our puzzle.