Spiritual Sparks: Can Sugar Look Like Salt?

The hidden side of what you see

Margaret Hamilton became famous for playing one of the most terrifying characters in film history -- the Wicked Witch of the West. For generations of children, she was fear itself: the green face, the cackle, the menace.

But was that truly her? Was that image a reflection of who she was in real life…or only a costume that concealed something very different?

It’s a question worth asking -- not only about a character on a screen, but about the way we see people and the way we interpret life itself.

✨3 Ideas

1. Get the full story

What we often see is only a snapshot -- a moment, an expression, a single detail -- and we assume full clarity. Yet certainty often comes faster than truth. 

A woman once sat in an airport lounge, reading a book and eating from a bag of cookies. To her irritation, a man beside her began taking cookies from the same bag. Only later, on the plane, did she discover her own unopened bag in her purse -- the man had been sharing his with her.

How often are we just as certain…and just as mistaken?

2. We often see only a costume

We see through the lens of our assumptions, expectations, and past experiences. Two people can look at the same situation and walk away with vastly different conclusions.

We tend to notice what confirms what we believe and overlook what doesn’t. We’re not responding to reality -- we’re responding to what we believe we’re seeing.

Yet beneath our reactions, there is something deeper within us that resists that way of seeing. The soul is not threatened by uncertainty, nor does it rush to judgment; it seeks connection with others, to find what is good, and to understand.

3. Choose to see more deeply

Our inner essence recognizes that most people want to be good. By giving others the benefit of the doubt, we allow for the possibility of another side of the story.

And just as we can misjudge people, difficulties may contain something you don’t yet see. What feels like a setback in the moment can later reveal itself as a turning point.

To see more deeply is to align with something within us that already knows there is more beneath the surface.

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📜2 Quotes

“Do not look at the vessel, but at what is inside it. A new vessel may hold old wine, and an old vessel may hold nothing at all.”
— Ethics of the Fathers, 4:27 

“You can’t judge an apple by looking at the tree / You can’t judge honey by looking at the bee / You can’t judge a daughter by looking at the mother / You can’t judge a book by looking at the cover.”
— Bo Diddley, from the song You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover

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❓1 Question

Have you ever realized you were seeing someone’s costume -- and not who they really were?

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In real life, Margaret Hamilton was nothing like the character that made her famous. She was a kindergarten and Sunday school teacher, devoted to children’s education.

Knowing how easily appearances can mislead, she went out of her way to reassure children, many of whom were frightened by her on screen. She even appeared in interviews out of costume to show them the Wicked Witch was only a role.

The face they feared was not the person she was. And how often is that true in our own lives? What we see is real -- but it is rarely the whole story.

Until next time,
Wishing you a week of seeing the sugar, not the salt -- and noticing the goodness not always visible at first glance,

Rabbi Ze'ev Smason

P.S. Have you recently wished someone had given you the benefit of the doubt? I’d love to hear from you.

P.P.S. I’m putting the finishing touches on my book, Spiritual Sparks: A Reader, and beginning to prepare the dedication pages. If you might be interested in being part of bringing this book to light, I’ll be sharing more in the coming days. If this already speaks to you, please feel free to reach out.