第六章 杨布打狗

In ancient times, there was a young man named Yang Bu. He lived with his older brother Yang Zhu, and they also kept a dog.

This dog followed Yang Bu every day. Whenever Yang Bu came home, it would happily run to the door to greet him.

One morning, the weather was nice. Yang Bu wore a white suit and went out to handle some business.

In the afternoon, the sky suddenly darkened and it began to rain heavily. Yang Bu did not bring an umbrella, and soon his whole body was wet. His white clothes were covered with rain and mud.

A friend saw him, invited him into the house to rest, and gave him a black suit to change into.

After the rain stopped, Yang Bu went home in the black suit. It was already a bit dark. As soon as he reached the courtyard gate, the family dog rushed out.

The dog stared at the person in black, barking loudly non-stop, not letting him approach the gate.

Yang Bu was first stunned, then said angrily, "You follow me every day, and now you don't even recognize your own master?"

But not only did the dog not stop, it barked even louder.

Yang Bu thought this dog didn't even recognize its owner, truly useless. He picked up a wooden stick from the ground and prepared to hit it.

At this moment, his brother Yang Zhu heard the noise and came out from the house.

"Don't hit it yet," his brother stopped Yang Bu. "Why is it barking at you?"

Yang Bu pointed at the dog and said, "I give it food every day and have never mistreated it. Today I simply changed my clothes, and it treats me like a stranger. Shouldn't such a dog be beaten?"

Brother looked at the black clothes on Yang Bu and asked, "What color were you wearing when you left this morning?"

"White."

"And now?"

"Black."

Brother then asked, "If our dog went out white in the morning and came back black in the evening, would you recognize it immediately?"

Yang Bu thought for a moment and did not reply.

Brother said, "You know you only changed clothes, but the dog doesn't. It saw a person in white leave in the morning, and now sees a person in black approaching the door. It barks at a stranger, which is also protecting this home."

Yang Bu looked down at the stick in his hand, and the anger in his heart slowly disappeared.

He put down the stick, slowly approached, and softly called the dog's name a few times.

The dog stopped barking. It cautiously approached Yang Bu, sniffed his hand, and then recognized its master. It wagged its tail and circled around Yang Bu.

Yang Bu patted the dog's head and said to his brother, "I only thought it didn't recognize me, but I never considered that the me it sees is different from the me this morning."

Brother nodded, "Many misunderstandings happen this way. What we know, the other party may not know. Before blaming others, first clarify the reason, then judgment will be fair."

Yang Bu remembered his brother's words.

From then on, whenever he got angry because of others' actions, he would first ask himself: What did the other person see? Is what they know the same as what I know?

Understanding the reason does not mean accepting all mistakes. But it can help us distinguish: whether the other person did it intentionally or because they didn't understand the situation.