Natural Bridges in Interpersonal Communication, 3rd Edition

2 Perception Seeing the Best in Others

DOI: 10.4324/9781003327172-2

A young girl was walking past a construction site and saw three men laying brick next to the sidewalk. The girl approached the first bricklayer and asked him what he was doing.

Are you blind? he sneered. Can’t you see I’m stacking these damn bricks?

The girl quickly left him and approached the second bricklayer in the middle of the block with the same question, What are you doing?

I’m laying brick in perfect order, he boasted. Just look down the line and see how wonderfully I lay brick. No one has finer skills than me.

She bent low and peered down his section of brick and said, That’s very nice.

Finally, the girl walked to the other end of the construction site and asked ...