Looking for the Good

*A retelling for children, based on **Mahmúd's Diary** (entry of 1 November 1912). The words in quotation marks are the saying of Christ that 'Abdu'l-Bahá repeated, as the diary records it.*

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The man who came to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá that day had a complaint about nearly everything. He grumbled about his country. He grumbled about all the things that had gone wrong. He grumbled about the people who had treated him badly. If there was a frown to be found, he had found it.

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'Abdu'l-Bahá did not argue with him. Instead, He told the man a little story — a story about Jesus.

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One day, the story goes, Jesus and His friends were walking along a road, and they came upon a dead dog lying there. It was not a pretty sight. "How horrible!" said the people, holding their noses and looking away.

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But Jesus looked at the very same dog, and found something good to say. He said:

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> What white teeth it has!

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Everyone else saw only what was ugly. Jesus looked harder, and found the one beautiful thing — the dog's shining white teeth — and that is what He talked about.

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The grumpy visitor understood at once. He had been looking only at what was wrong with everything. But there is almost always something good to find, if we are willing to look for it. The man's frown melted away, and he left feeling happier than he had in a long time.

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It is a good thing to remember the next time we feel like complaining: we can always try to spot the white teeth.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["What White Teeth It Has"](/stories/md-what-white-teeth).*

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