Judgment Day

First of all this wasn’t spawned by politics although that’s an ingredient that can certainly now be thrown into the mix of my jumbled up thoughts. This is something that has been tumbling around in my mind for quite a while. As is usually the case when you think about something enough, you tend to start noticing it a lot more than you might would have otherwise.

I had been pondering this for a while when out of the blue the other day I had a close encounter of the most extreme racist kind. It not only surprised me but it put me in a very awkward situation. Thankfully I was able to respond briefly and honestly before realizing I was in a potential ‘choose your battle’ situation and was able to step away.

That particular moment makes me thankful that I wasn’t raised in a home that condoned nor reflected racism or blatant stereotyping of people. That’s not to say I wasn’t exposed to it as a child. One of the things I recall my grandfather saying (a lot) was ‘those damned hippies’. Everything that was wrong with the world was to be blamed on hippies. If someone had long hair, he had no room or tolerance for their opinions. I used to laugh about it and didn’t see it for what it was.

Lately I’ve spent a good deal of time wondering why and noticing how it is has become such human nature to consciously or subconsciously judge people’s character without even knowing anything about them. I recently commented that all people labels should come with nutritional facts. This isn’t to say we should label people but just acknowledging that we, as a society, do that. It is so common to pass judgment on someone because of color, looks, income, education or the fact we don’t agree with things like sexual, political or religious beliefs. We do this so freely without even considering what this someone has to contribute to ourselves or to others. Who knows how much happiness or growth we could potentially be missing out on by discarding someone else because we don’t agree with something about them. Just a thought!

There are two things I am very sure of…I’m sure it isn’t our place to judge other people and I am sure it can be a daily struggle not to do so!