Treat People Like Fortune Cookies

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Fortune Cookie

Have you ever had food from a Chinese restaurant?

You eat some deliciously salty dishes filled with fat. There’s so much oil that it looks like you’re wearing lip gloss after you’ve finished. Don’t forget about the truckloads of MSG that make you so thirsty, it’s easy to forget you’re not actually in the Sahara Desert. Then if all of that wasn’t enough, the waiter or waitress comes by with the check as soon as he or she notices you’re done eating.

Oh the joys of a delightful Chinese dining experience.

But wait, there’s a treat!

If you’re lucky enough the restaurant will bring some fortune cookies along with the check… Yippee!

Before the check even hits the table you are already grabbing a fortune cookie.

With the excitement of a child and a face that’s glowing brightly, you pull out a thin rectangular paper with printed words. Anxiously, you await your fortune.

“10 days of sorrow beginning with the new moon.”

What in the world?! 10 days of sorrow? Really?! I thought these things were supposed to say that your life will be filled with happiness and that you’ll win the lottery?

Granted, most cookies have a pleasant message like that, but I did once open a cookie that said something about death being on the horizon. You can bet I never went to that Chinese restaurant again…

So what was the point of all of this?

Treat each person you meet with the same gusto and excitement you feel when cracking open that cookie. Break through the outer shell that you see. Go straight for the person’s inner fortune.

After all, who eats the cookie anyway? It’s the fortune inside that matters.

Finally, some words of wisdom from none other than a fortune cookie…

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

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