Judge Not

In the last few years, I’ve reconnected with people who I considered special in my life. They are people who, at some point or other, brought joy. I was not judged for my appearance but rather for who I was. As children, that is what we do. We accept one another openly and freely and we judge not.

I wonder at what point in our life we decide that it is okay to judge others. Judging people by how they look, where they come from, or how well we think they are doing, somehow crept into our childlike innocence. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to be aware of this and work to reverse it.

How well or poorly someone is doing can only be gauged by themselves. This is because we all place different values on what is important in our lives. Some people place value on material items such as cars, houses, and expensive jewelry, while others place value on family and how much time they can spend with them. There are some who place value on both.

When you see a homeless person begging for money, what thoughts run through your mind? Do you think they are a lowlife, blame their parents for raising them poorly, or do you see a person in pain? Many different things drive a person to homelessness. Among them, untreated mental health issues are at the top of the list. I have met people who live on the streets to escape violent and sometimes sexual abuse situations. Behind the majority are parents whose hearts are breaking and have tried everything they can to help. No one sets out to choose this path for themselves or their children.

Having said all this, it is important to understand the difference between judging and alignment. There is an inherent makeup within that allows us to gauge whether someone is sincere or not, which exists for our own self-preservation. We align with people who hold the same values as us and whom we get along easily with.

Our experience gives us a viewpoint unique to others but, at times, can lead us down the road of wrong profiling. Not every person can be painted with the same brush. Each of us is unique with our own set of talents, some of us making wiser choices on our life’s journey than others.

Remember, just because one or more people from a specific race or religion does something bad, it does not mean the entire population is the same. We all have people within our own societies that do cruel, illegal and illicit things. I would not want to be judged for their actions and so I don’t judge others the same way.

In the end it is not up to us judge but to love. We don’t know what struggles a person is having unless they are a close personal friend, or we have walked in their shoes. Even then, we don’t always know how they are faring behind closed doors.

In todays society of instantaneous responses, social media provides too many people the opportunity to make comments on others. I am always shocked at how cruel and mean people can be, using words as weapons and then feeling good about it.

Hurting someone else is never a good thing. Yes, people post something in fun and perhaps should not have done so, but that is no excuse to tear them down. These are real people with real feelings looking for acceptance, not judgement. They hurt and bleed like the rest of us. If it it not for you, scroll on, without comment.

At the end of the day, only we can determine how to treat others. I chose to love and do my best to judge not.

Free inspirational or motivational posts can be found on the inspirational page of Leslie’s website.