Gold or Brass: Don’t Judge a Man by His Appearance
Once upon a time, in Egypt, there was a sage named Zun-Nun. One day, a curious young man asked him: “Sir, why do respectable people like you always dress simply and similarly? Is there no value in dressing up a little, not just for show, but also for show?”
The Lesson of the Black Ring
The sage smiled, took off the ring on his hand and gave it to the young man: “Hey young man, I will answer your question, but first you must do me a favor. Take this ring to the market and exchange it for a gold coin.”
The young man looked at the black ring in his hand, looking doubtful: “A gold coin? I’m not sure this ring is worth that much, sir.” Zun-Nun encouraged: “Just try it, who knows what might happen?”
The young man hurried to the market. He visited the silk, vegetable, meat and fish stalls and many other places. But the truth was that no one agreed to pay him more than one silver coin.
Disappointed, he returned to Zun-Nun: “Sir, no one agreed to pay more than one silver coin for this ring.”
The True Value Recognized by the Connoisseur
With a gentle smile on his calm face, the sage replied: “Now, go to the gold shop at the end of the street, give this ring to the owner. Don’t ask for the price, just listen to how much he offers.”
The young man followed the instructions and returned with a completely different expression. He said cheerfully: “Sir, the merchants in the market clearly do not know the value of this ring! The gold shop owner agreed to buy it for a thousand gold coins, and he said its true value is a thousand times higher than the price paid by the people in the market!”
The Last Lesson: Seeing Through the Soul
Zun-Nun smiled kindly: “That is the answer to your question. You cannot judge a person by his appearance. The merchants in the market judge by his appearance. But the gold merchants are different; they have the ability to see the true value.
Gold and precious stones exist inside every person, and can only be recognized if you can see through the soul.
To see through, you need a patient heart and the ability to observe a long process. We cannot be hasty in judging others based on temporary words or behavior. Many times, what we think is gold turns out to be brass, but what we think is brass is actually gold.”
Affiliation from the Bible
The teachings of the sage Zun-Nun echo the truths of the Bible. When God chose David to replace Saul as king, Samuel looked at the appearance of David’s brother Eliab. But God said,
“The Lord does not see as man sees; man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Both the story and the Bible affirm an eternal truth: A person’s true worth is not found in his or her appearance, position, or possessions, but in his or her heart and character.
Do you agree that recognizing a person’s inner worth is the most important thing?