Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are. Unknown
Ouch. Ever since I first read this quote a few months back it keeps haunting me. Not that I don't know the truth behind it already but the way it is phrased keeps pinging me.
I think a lot of times we all speak something about someone and without realizing it we are judging them. I know I am guilty of this. It usually hits me about midnight or 2 am, when I'm in a dead sleep. My eyes pop open and I inwardly groan at the judgement I had passed on someone earlier in the day. I swear my conscience does this running review all night long while I'm asleep and can't defend or rather justify myself!
Where I get stuck is when it is true about the person! No seriously. There are some people out there that are idiots, for one reason or another. Or they are jerks, for one reason or another. Or they are fill in the blank, for one reason or another. In cases of truth I wonder if it comes down to several things: choosing to acknowledge the truth about that person at all (I think a wise person would know to hold their tongue and practice some self-discipline in pointing out this truth - obviously I'm still working at this one and haven't gotten close, OY!), tone of voice when speaking of or to this person, not being able to see past the one truth of this person to the other truth that they also are a person of worth and value just like I am, etc. Is anyone else tracking with me?
Here's the truth about me judging others as idiots, jerks, etc. I'm also an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank in someones world/life. I am. You are too. If I could remember that more often it would probably, no it would, change the way I think of others. I would be compassionate with them instead of judging them. I'd treat them with the same care I want to be treated by those who think I am an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank. I don't want to be defined as an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank when my life is said and done. I don't want to be remembered, dead or alive, as any of those things but rather as someone who cares/d and loves/d others well even when they acts/ed like an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank. We all act like that at times but it is not who we are. But if we pass that kind of judgement off on others too much it becomes how we are known. No thank you.
Ouch. Ever since I first read this quote a few months back it keeps haunting me. Not that I don't know the truth behind it already but the way it is phrased keeps pinging me.
I think a lot of times we all speak something about someone and without realizing it we are judging them. I know I am guilty of this. It usually hits me about midnight or 2 am, when I'm in a dead sleep. My eyes pop open and I inwardly groan at the judgement I had passed on someone earlier in the day. I swear my conscience does this running review all night long while I'm asleep and can't defend or rather justify myself!
Where I get stuck is when it is true about the person! No seriously. There are some people out there that are idiots, for one reason or another. Or they are jerks, for one reason or another. Or they are fill in the blank, for one reason or another. In cases of truth I wonder if it comes down to several things: choosing to acknowledge the truth about that person at all (I think a wise person would know to hold their tongue and practice some self-discipline in pointing out this truth - obviously I'm still working at this one and haven't gotten close, OY!), tone of voice when speaking of or to this person, not being able to see past the one truth of this person to the other truth that they also are a person of worth and value just like I am, etc. Is anyone else tracking with me?
Here's the truth about me judging others as idiots, jerks, etc. I'm also an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank in someones world/life. I am. You are too. If I could remember that more often it would probably, no it would, change the way I think of others. I would be compassionate with them instead of judging them. I'd treat them with the same care I want to be treated by those who think I am an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank. I don't want to be defined as an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank when my life is said and done. I don't want to be remembered, dead or alive, as any of those things but rather as someone who cares/d and loves/d others well even when they acts/ed like an idiot, jerk, fill in the blank. We all act like that at times but it is not who we are. But if we pass that kind of judgement off on others too much it becomes how we are known. No thank you.
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