A young man walked into a gift shop, wishing to buy his mother a piece of china to add to her collection. As he approached the case in which the china was displayed, he was met by a somewhat nervous assistant. He explained what he wanted but, not seeing it, he inquired if there was any in stock. Very reluctantly the assistant left him, and on the way to the stockroom she spoke to another assistant, looking toward the young man. He eventually made his purchase and left the shop.

Speaking of this experience later, the young man said that he would never go into that shop again. He had never felt so uncomfortable in his life. "It was as if the assistant expected me to steal something," he said.

Why had the assistant reacted in this way? The young man was dressed in the fashion of the day, and his hair was long. Obviously the assistant had expected trouble merely because of the man's outward appearance. And although discretion is needed by shopkeepers in meeting the threat of vandalism and shoplifting, in this case the assistant was completely wrong in her assessment.

In an article entitled "Judge Not," speaking of the effect of thought, Mrs. Eddy writes: "When will the world cease to judge of causes from a personal sense of things, conjectural and misapprehensive! When thought dwells in God,—and it should not, to our consciousness, dwell elsewhere,—one must benefit those who hold a place in one's memory, whether it be friend or foe, and each share the benefit of that radiation." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 290.}

Here, then, is our answer to warranted or unwarranted criticism of others: we must see them as God has created them. Christ Jesus has given us the supreme example of this in his lifework. As Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." ^{Science and Health, pp. 476-477.}

That this Christly view of man can bring about healing was clearly evidenced by a schoolteacher early in her career.

At the beginning of a school year she faced a new class of six-to-seven-year-olds. The former teacher warned her about one child who was very difficult, naughty, and disobedient and whose influence seemed to disrupt the whole class.

The new teacher was a Christian Scientist, and she always began her school day with the realization of the spiritual definition of "children" given in Science and Health: "The spiritual thoughts and representatives of Life, Truth, and Love." ^{Ibid., p. 582.} She endeavored to keep this Christlike view of children throughout the day.

For the first few days this particular child gave no trouble. Before long, however, he began to express all the traits of which she had been warned and that she had quickly denied as being true about God's child. He became most disobedient and did all he could to upset the other children. She then knew that she had something more to do. She prayed for guidance, and the truth came to her that it was not a case of her will being forced upon another, but that all mankind, as the children of God, were in harmony with the one Mind, God, which the Christian Science textbook defines as "The only I, or Us..." ^{Ibid., p. 591.} She held to this truth, and before many days had passed, she once again experienced harmony in her classroom. The child settled down to work, and she found that she had begun to love him.

Some weeks later the child was absent, and on his return brought a letter from his mother in which she explained the reason for his absence and expressed her own and her husband's gratitude for her little boy's good behavior. To quote from her letter, "If this improvement is as marked at school as it is at home, we both feel that at last he is trying to settle down." This was further proof that the truth had been demonstrated. To the teacher, however, the most beautiful part of the experience was that the headmistress came to her and said that the child, when asked why he was such a good boy, replied, "Well, you see, my teacher does not expect me to be naughty." What a lesson had been learned, and what a blessing ensued!