Scene 1
“I am having difficulty seeing properly. It seems a haze or cloud cover is between my eyes and the things out there”, said Ramesh, finally sitting in front of the doctor after waiting for two hours outside as the patient queue cleared.
“Maybe your eye-sight is getting weak. Here, take my glasses. You can use these. I have been using these for many years and they work fine for me. I have an extra pair of glasses at home, I will use those.”, said the doctor.
Ramesh, a little surprised now, remarked – “But wouldn’t you want to test my eyes first?”. He was certainly expecting a little more after the excruciating wait outside his clinic. “The least they could do was offer tea or coffee to the waiting patients”, he thought as he stared at the doctor’s face.
“Are you the doctor or me? I have used them for many years. Try these now and see for yourself.”, the doctor said, handing over the glasses to Ramesh.
“O..o..h..h..k..k”, uttered Ramesh as he reluctantly took the glasses and tried them on. As he expected, his vision got even worse, and he removed the glasses at once.
“What’s the matter?”, asked the doctor.
“I couldn’t see anything after putting them on. Now even my head is hurting.”
“What?? You must not have focused enough. The glasses are perfect, they will work for you too. Just try harder this time.”
“I am not putting them on again. I thought you would give a prescription after proper diagnosis. Now it looks I am only wasting my time here.”, said Ramesh as he got up and left the doctor’s cabin.
Don’t prescribe before diagnosing
Scene 2
“What’s the matter Neha, you seem unusually quiet today?”, asker her mother as the usually chirpy Neha as not spoken a word since she returned from school this afternoon.
“Nothing mother”, chirped little Neha.
“I know there is something. I only care for your welfare, so tell me what is bothering you.”
“You won’t understand.”
“Just try it dear. You will only feel better. And I am sure I can relate to whatever is going on in your mind and suggest a way out.”, her mother persisted.
“Hmm.. Mummy, I just don’t like going to school anymore.”
“Not feel like going to school anymore? Do you know how much we have sacrificed to make sure you can go to a good school and have a quality education? Your whole future depends on your education, and you don’t feel like going to school anymore?”
“But it is too hard, Ma”, muttered Neha, realizing that she should have stayed quiet in the first place.
“Learn something from your elder sister. If you apply yourself in your studies a little harder, even you will start enjoying it. You need to understand education is the foundation your future will be built upon”, said the mother with a tone of her voice finally coming back to normal.
Neha went back to being quiet.
Scene 3
For the third scene, lets imagine a similar scene from our own lives where he have been too quick to pass judgement or offer solutions. A scene where we want the other person to understand our point of view before making any effort to understand theirs. I am sure it would neither be too difficult to recall such a scene nor much different from any of the above scenes.