Judging a Book

MASTER WOODY SPEAKS

While sitting at a table in my favorite tea shop a man walked in and passed by my table.  Passing he slowed glanced down to see the book I was reading. The book cover was a bright orange that spelled out Tai Chi Ch’uan in Chinese calligraphy.  The man stared down at my book then looked up at me and said, in broken English, “you read this book?”  I answered; “Yes, I can read this book”.

The man smiled and walked and joined a group of men sitting a few tables away from me.  Whatever he said to them they all looked up and over at me and began talking among themselves in a Chinese dialect.  I don’t know if they were speaking Manderian or Cantonese, either way I couldn’t understand what they where saying.

After a while, that group of men got up to leave, as they were walking out they glanced over at me and all gave a slight friendly head bow.

As I continued reading my Tai Chi book and drinking tea, a of my Tai Chi students walked into the tea shop.  I saw them glance over at me and once they grab there drinks they sat a few tables away.

As I was about to leave the tea shop one of my students approached me.  He asked me about my book and if it was hard learning to read and understanding the Chinese language.  I told him I only knew a few of the Chinese calligraphy symbols and I didn’t read the Chinese language.   He then asked me about the book that I had been reading.  I told him the book was reading was written in English on the inside and only the cover of the book was written in Chinese calligraphy with English written beneath it in small fonts.

Apparently, the man that walked pass my table earlier judged my book by its cover and assumed the entire book was written in Chinese.  That may have been why he and his friends sitting at their table made an assumption that I read Chinese, I do not really know. 

But what I do know is this; you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.