Have you ever had apples? You may answer “of course.” But have you ever noticed that some apples have two sides? One side may have faced the sun as the apple grew, and we can refer to it as the “bright side.” The other side might not have faced the sun, though, and can be called the apple’s “dark side.”

    This two-sided characteristic also applies to people.

    A person’s “bright side” is made of their merits, while the opposite is made of their faults. Just like the bright side of an apple is more delicious than its dark side, people’s merits are more sweet than their faults.

    As we all know, no one is perfect. We all have our merits and faults. For example, my friend Jack has good manners. He is polite and helpful. But he is not that excellent in academics. Good manners have made up his bright side while his relatively low scores sometimes make people think of his dark side.

    Those who take exams and scores seriously often comment that Jack is a bad student, but those who consider the inner merits important often praise his manners. It is common for us to judge a person from only our perspective, but it will be hard for us to know Jack — let alone make friends with him — if all we notice is his dark side.

    In fact, we all have a dark side and it is possible for others to only value us from that perspective. Thus, to be fair and respect others, we need to see a person’s bright side and acknowledge his or her merits. If his or her faults will not bring harm to others, we need to show more tolerance.