Judgement

Well, I had promised a controversial blog for this week, but this may not be a controversial as I thought.  I am speaking about judging others.

So, let’s start with what I believe.  I do not believe that any of us on earth has the right to stand in judgement of another.  Having said that every country, every province and state and every city, town and county have their own documented laws and, therefore, have the right to judge people against those.  That’s not the kind of judgement I am referring to.

The judgement I am referring to is judging how others look or behave, especially judging things one has no control over. 

Probably everyone knows of ‘The Elephant man.’  We have preconceived ideas of what someone should look like. Joseph Merrick, known as ‘The Elephant Man,’ had no control over his disfiguration and so he was mocked and ridiculed (judged).  Most of the appearances we judge are not that severe, but most people seem to make fun of and even bully those who are not ‘perfect’ in their eyes.

We also seem to make fun of (judge) someone who is wearing something we do not ‘approve’ of.  In our eyes, we all have preconceived ideas of what is appropriate to wear and what is not.  We can dress in what we believe to be appropriate, but should not judge others who do not.

Weight is also something that seems to be judged.  Usually, we judge those who are overweight and not those who are underweight, but either way, it is a judgement.

We also judge behavior.  There are many behaviors that are rather universally understood to be inappropriate, but those are pretty much all covered by the laws of the land, such as pedophilia.  Other behaviors, such as whether or not someone can dance, or if you believe they embarrass you in public or hurt your feelings, we do judge in our own ways.  It is not appropriate to make fun of, or deliberately harm someone who behaves in a way that you don’t like.  Behaving inappropriately is a bit of a different thing.

We, at least to some extent, have the ability to include those in our lives that make us happy and avoid those who do not.  I suppose that is a judgement in a sense, but we are not passing sentence on them, at least.

At the end of our days, when we look back on our lives, God will help us to judge ourselves and we shall be the harshest judge of all.  Let us leave judgement until that time.