JUDGE YE NOT

"Wow, I can't believe how judgemental people can be!" 

"I know, they don't even know anything about us, and here they are just ignoring us, like we don't exist."

"Can you believe the nerve of some people? And they claim that they are Christians!"

Can you see the difficulty here?

It's sort of like freedom of religion - you are completely in favor of that... as long as it's YOUR religion that's being discussed. But those cult/ freaks/ fringe groups? Oh, no, it doesn't mean them.

Someone being judgemental is extremely easy to spot -- as long as you yourself are being judgemental.

I know that I hang a label on someone the instant I first meet them - by what they are wearing, by how they speak, by what kind of car they have. I may excuse myself by saying that I am just observing something about them, but nope, it's really judging them.

My little 'ole brain is spinning through its file drawers to drop this person as quickly as possible into clothes-from-WalMart, impatient-parent-with-children, too-flashy-a-pimp-car or the worse one possible OMG-they-have-a-bumper-sticker-for-THAT-candidate!!

And although my opinion may improve upon further acquaintance, I am judging. Unrighteously. Because that is the only way us mortal can judge.

I can't know that this person dealt with the loss of a loved one last month - has been up for the past three nights trying to do the business tax forms - was treated miserably by a person who looked just like me.

So I'm working on it. Got a long ways to go, but as soon as that file drawer opens with that metallic screech, I am trying to shut it.

(And I'm including the Star Trek poster just because I find it so funny - if you can't read the caption, it says "What, you don't see it?!")