I’ll be honest here and say, I too am guilty of such things. I can be quite the critical person at times which can cause me to end up to be so damn judgemental. It is something I try to keep in check as much as possible. I am always chiding my daughters in their judgemental ways by saying: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all” then a little voice tells me “Ahem, you might want to practice what you preach”.
So I try to practice it as much as I can. However, I always catch myself returning back to old habits. Stories like the one I read is a good reminder to me to set aside the judgements, open my heart and mind to others even if I don’t agree with their viewpoints, opinions, the way they carry themselves or how they choose to live their lives.
Upon reading the story I came to the realization that, and this may be a judgemental statement, but I am amazed at how many people who call themselves Christians can sit there and condemn others based on what THEY see and judge. I grew up with a Christian upbringing. To let you know that I am not aiming just my opinion on Christianity alone, this can easily apply to other religious/spiritual beliefs. Just because you believe in a higher power doesn’t make you more enlightened than the rest of us. In fact, if you judge so harshly your brethren, you are twice the fool because you haven’t truly learned your enlightened teachings from your religion.
The key here is perception. Perception comes from one person’s viewpoint and understanding. You have to admit here, your viewpoint and understanding of things are limited. They are limited by your sets of values, belief system, experiences and knowledge.
It is something I have to remind myself as I sit here and judge others for their poor lifestyle choices, for the fact that they have slighted me on some matter or even because they look different/weird (yes I still do that, I am a fallible human being like everyone else).
On the flipside, being the recipient of other people’s harsh judgement, you got to remind yourself: Do you really value that person’s opinion of you? Do you have to please everyone who sees/meets you? Can you even achieve that impossible task to make everyone like you and not judge you? Do they even know you enough to make a fair assessment of you?
Most of these questions are answered by no and if you answered yes to some of these then, you have a problem and you are never going to be happy because you can’t appeal to everyone, all the time. Even your close loved ones will judge you from time to time.
So remember as you watch that person walk by with the too tight pants, or the “unacceptable” behaviour that someone out there too is doing the same thing to you. How does that feel for you? Shitty huh? Well then drop the criticism from your lips and open your heart to that eccentric type, they may surprise you and you might find you have a lot more in common with them after all.