Today’s post to the blog Jack’s Winning Words blog is re-posted here in its entirety –
“Everything for me becomes allegory.” (Charles Baudelaire) There’s a lesson, metaphor, parable in every event, when you look for it. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a lesson in what it means to be a neighbor. The walk by the Israelites to the Promised Land can be a metaphor for our life’s walk toward Heaven. The Wizard of Oz has many allegories…the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion, even Home! Our world is full of hidden stories. 😉 Jack
It is a shame that we do not take the time to even see the hidden stories going on in life all around us, much less try to apply the knowledge and wisdom that is within those stories to our own lives. Those stories are locked up in the people that we encounter; yet we fail to see them because we do not take the time to meet and get to know those 
people.
Many times I will return from a business meeting with potential clients about a real estate transaction and my wife will ask me simple questions about things like “Why do they want to sell?” or perhaps “How many kids do they have?” I tis then that I realize that I was so focused upon the real estate aspects of our meeting that I didn’t take the time to explore the human side of things and get to know those people better. I didn’t explore the hidden stories that led them to me in the first place.
Even more revealing of how inwardly focused I can become and how blinded that leaves 
me. Worse is to discovering that someone that I may have been avoiding because of some pre-conceived notion or prejudice is actually a very interesting person from whom I might learn or at least enjoy knowing. When we judge someone from afar, based solely on their outward appearance, we blind ourselves to the true value that they have and the hidden stories that they could share.
It is true that a rock or a tree may have a hidden story from which one could learn something, but it is through our interactions with others that we really learn and share life’s most valuable lessons. So, don’t let yourself be blinded by prejudice or pre-conceived notions about those whom you encounter. Take the time to get to know them
and to listen to their hidden stories. You’ll be the better for it and perhaps they will gain from knowing you, too.
Seek out the hidden stories from those around you this week.
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