Don’t make hasty conclusions

With Anne Anjao-Eboi

Most of us are guilty of making quick conclusions about someone or something.

I marvel at how the word of God covers every topic we have on this universe, yes, including making hasty conclusions. Look at this: The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.

I am a lover of literature so let me take you on a short journey through Nikolai Gogol’s celebrated comedy, The Government Inspector.     Rumour is going round that the government inspector is due to inspect the town. Worse, he is travelling incognito.

The town is a mess. One teacher forever grimaces; another one passionately demonstrates his lessons out on the corridor, breaking chairs. The magistrate keeps geese in his courthouse and takes puppies for bribes. The doctor doesn’t speak a word of Russian and his hospital is overflowing; he reasons that there is no need of buying new drugs because people will die anyway. The postmaster reads people’s private letters to delight himself and if he finds them good, keeps them.

Panic

While in this state of panic, two characters, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, burst in with the news that the inspector is already in town.

At the end of the play, the town is thrown in a fresh panic when the real inspector arrives. Bob and Dob had made hasty conclusions that Hlestakov, a junior government official, was the inspector simply because he wasn’t paying his bills (he had no money) and because he closely inspected their beef while they were eating.

The problem with making hasty conclusions is that we end up making inaccurate assumptions about people. This may lead to unnecessary strife and untold suffering.

When someone comes to you with a damning story about another, stop that person immediately and ask them if they would be comfortable repeating what they are saying if the other person was present.

I learnt this lesson the hard way. A woman told me lots of unpleasant things about a couple I held dear. Inevitably, I started believing her. Meanwhile, the couple held their ground and when the dust settled, I was ashamed beyond words. All they asked me was, “Anne, why didn’t you just ask us?”

I later learned the woman gossip loved destroying relationships.

So friend, before you conclude that so and so is loose, or so and so is a husband-snatcher, be careful. The word of God is the perfect guide: Don’t listen only to the first one to present a case. Remember a coin always has two sides.