Before You Judge

It is very easy to judge others for their actions and the words they speak, especially when we don’t understand. But, that is the key – we don’t understand. Unless we walk in someone’s shoes, we have no right to judge them, for anything that they do or say. We don’t have to agree with or like what others do, but to say that they are absolutely in the wrong, is wrong of us.

Take for instance, you are in a store and the clerk behaves rudely towards you. Could it be that they are just having a bad day, recently lost a loved one, or they’re about to be laid off? So instead of becoming upset with them, try to be understanding. Even if they are just “that way” naturally, you can “love” them. It’s much harder to be rude to someone who treats you kindly.

I recall once when I was pulling up to a stop light, a lady in a wheelchair was making her way through the crosswalk. I wasn’t speeding, didn’t come to a screeching halt at the light and my car was no where near invading the crosswalk. But, she still proceeded to stop in front of my car to wave her fist at me and yell out a few choice words. My initial thought was, “This lady is not all there.” But, immediately my internal response changed to sympathy for her. What if she had just recently become disabled and she was venturing out for one of the first times in her wheelchair? What if someone a short time prior to that moment almost hit her with their car and she was taking it out on me? Or what if she was in pain? Regardless, to this day I don’t have a clue as to why she reacted the way she did. But, I don’t have to know why. I just have to be understanding and not judgemental.

Then of course there are the deeper issues of life, such as the decisions people make. How to raise children, relationships, financial issues, religious beliefs, etc. Unless it is our own personal life, we certainly cannot understand why people make the decisions they do. Who are we to judge? Instead, we should love others and be understanding towards them, just like we would want them to be with us.