Most of us take human nature as a great whole, and judge individuals from our idea in general.  Or, worse, we judge it all from our own personal prejudices.  There is a grossness about this which we wonder at not having seen before, when we compare the finer sensitiveness which is surely developed by the steady effort to understand another’s point of view.  We know a whole more perfectly as a whole if we have a distinct knowledge of the component parts.  We can only understand human nature en masse through a daily clearer knowledge of and sympathy with its individuals.  Every one of us knows the happiness of having at least one friend whom he is perfectly sure will neither undervalue him nor give him undeserved praise, and whose friendship and help he can count upon, no matter how great a wrong he has done, as securely as he could count upon his loving thought and attention in physical illness.  Surely it is possible for each of us to approach such friendship in our feeling and attitude towards every one who comes in touch with us.

It is comparatively easy to think of this open sympathy, or even practise it in big ways; it is in the little matters of everyday life that the difficulty arises.  Of course the big ways count for less if they come through a brain clogged with little prejudices, although to some extent one must help the other.

It cannot be that a man has a real open sympathy who limits it to his own family and friends; indeed, the very limit would make the open sympathy impossible.  One is just as far from a clear comprehension of human nature when he limits himself by his prejudices for his immediate relatives as when he makes himself alone the boundary.

Once having gained even the beginning of this broader sympathy with others, there follows the pleasure of freedom from antagonisms, keener delight in understanding others, individually and collectively, and greater ability to serve others; and all these must give an impetus which takes us steadily on to greater freedom, to clearer understanding, and to more power to serve and to be served.

Others have many experiences which we have never even touched upon.  In that case, our ability to understand is necessarily limited.  The only thing to do is to acknowledge that we cannot see the point of view, that we have no experience to start from, and to wait with an open mind until we are able to understand.

Curiously enough, it is precisely these persons of limited experience who are most prone to prejudice.  I have heard a man assert with emphasis that it was every one’s duty to be happy, who had apparently not a single thing in life to interfere with his own happiness.  The duty may be clear enough, but he certainly was not in a position to recognize its difficulty.  And just in proportion with his inability to take another’s point of view in such difficulty did he miss his power to lead others to this agreeable duty.