Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austin originally entitled Pride and Prejudice to be First Impressions. Lizzy Bennett meets two men in Pride and Prejudice. Her own prejudices bias her first impressions of each and clouds her perceptions and actions for a large part of the story. After seeing the actions of each man, she says, “One has all the goodness and the other all the appearance of it.” Often our own first impressions lack compassion for others, and we interpret other’s behavior negatively. Compassion sometimes is confused with feeling. Compassion is inconvenient and messy. It comes with blinders. It asks us to look beyond our first impressions, our pride, and our prejudice. May we choose to be moved by compassion.