The story of a traveler, our perceptions build our world

There was a small town located on a busy trade route, people stopped for a drink, a warm dish or a good night’s sleep, before continuing on their journey to some far away market or bazaar.
The old man who run the local cafe always sat outside to amuse himself by watching the daily scenes than unraveled before him.
As people noticed his precense, a rather innocuous and recurring question was directed to him. These people were merchants, travellers or seekers of knowledge who were stopping at the village for the first time.
"How are the people in this village?" they inquired.
He always responded with a simple question, "How were the people in the previous town you visited my dear Sir?".
The responses differed, but the answer of the old man was always the same, "Well, my dear Sir, people here are made of the same cloth as the ones in the previous town you visited".
Our dispositions, thoughts and preconceived ideas determine how people react to us, it also shapes our reaction to different events and persons.

If we are fearful and over-cautious we see threats everwhere we turn.
In a vain and overzealous attempt to protect ourselves, we form a shield of aloofness around us. It isolates us, and makes us go through an insipid and uninspired life, filled with paranoia, delusions and deceptions.

When we are open and forgiving, we see beauty hidden in piles of crude, abject and coarse material.