"Do you have to return this book today?", I asked my eight year old daughter. She was packing her things for school and this included a book that I was only half-way through reading. These days, I mostly read what the kids get from their school library. I had found the Wishing Spell book from the Land of Stories series quite interesting. She told me we can get another copy of it from the public library. "I'll get a better book for you today", she added cheerfully before heading out.
In the evening, she came home and handed me another book.
I read the title "Mountain Dog", took one look at the cover picture and said, "This doesn't look interesting to me. I may not like this". With no offense to dog lovers, I personally keep a distance from canines. When we had a dog at home or when visiting friends with dogs, I am always on the edge if they try to be too friendly. "Well, you can't say that till you read it. You should try a few pages", my daughter said, leaving the book on my table.
I flipped through a few pages. It was written in a very different style with chapters alternating between a boy and a dog's thoughts. The friendship between the two, which helped the boy tide over his emotional turmoil, was conveyed so well that I could not keep the book down. The book also had interesting details about search and rescue operations in the vast wilderness and the role played by dogs, who rescue people trapped without any means of communication. After I finished, I told my daughter how wonderful the book was. I could not but agree when she stated "That is why you should never judge a book by its cover!".
How true! Though she had meant it literally, I realized how it applies to other things, people and incidents. In these days, where news spreads like wildfire across media channels and social networks, how effortless it is to form opinions and reach conclusions from stories, which we may not even have read through or validated. As I skim through piles of information that flood my networks each day, I try to remember these simple words "Never judge a book by its cover!".
In the evening, she came home and handed me another book.
I read the title "Mountain Dog", took one look at the cover picture and said, "This doesn't look interesting to me. I may not like this". With no offense to dog lovers, I personally keep a distance from canines. When we had a dog at home or when visiting friends with dogs, I am always on the edge if they try to be too friendly. "Well, you can't say that till you read it. You should try a few pages", my daughter said, leaving the book on my table.
I flipped through a few pages. It was written in a very different style with chapters alternating between a boy and a dog's thoughts. The friendship between the two, which helped the boy tide over his emotional turmoil, was conveyed so well that I could not keep the book down. The book also had interesting details about search and rescue operations in the vast wilderness and the role played by dogs, who rescue people trapped without any means of communication. After I finished, I told my daughter how wonderful the book was. I could not but agree when she stated "That is why you should never judge a book by its cover!".
How true! Though she had meant it literally, I realized how it applies to other things, people and incidents. In these days, where news spreads like wildfire across media channels and social networks, how effortless it is to form opinions and reach conclusions from stories, which we may not even have read through or validated. As I skim through piles of information that flood my networks each day, I try to remember these simple words "Never judge a book by its cover!".
