Articles Stop
Being Judgemental!Printable Version
I try very hard not to be judgmental. I try very
hard not to notice the many foibles, idiosyncrasies and chosen
pastimes of my fellow man. Like the gal I knew whose dog went to
therapy to help tame his ‘aggressive tendencies.’ Apparently, Fido
missed his mommy who had to go out and work every day. So, while
she was gone, he would attack the other dog, bite into furniture and
be generally disagreeable. To remedy this, my friend took her dog
to therapy where Fido was prescribed Prozac. That’s, right,
Prozac! For a dog.
I try very hard not
to be judgmental (did I mention that?), so, when she told me her
story, I diligently tried to sympathize. I tried to see it from her
dog’s point of view. I thought about how attached her dog obviously
was to her and how it must be breaking his doggy heart to be parted
each day from his master. I tried to see it from my friend’s point
of view. I thought about the cost and worry my friend had to bear
in order to get her dog the help he so desperately needed. And,
when I finally could find no other point of view with which to
sympathize, I settled on my own. I thought, ‘This is the dumbest
thing I’ve ever heard!’ A dog. On Prozac. And then I proceeded to
share her story with friends, family members and strangers at the
airport. My story would always end with ‘some people are way
too attached to their pets.’
Funny? Yes.
Christ-like? No. I told this story and other embarrassing stories
about my friends so often, that I finally had to confront myself.
What the heck was I doing? Why did I think it was okay to sit in
judgment of other people? Sure, I had half-heartedly attempted to
sympathize with this friend and others, but, in the final analysis,
some part of my brain told me I had the right to pass
judgment on them and their behavior. And I chose to listen to this
voice instead of doing what I knew to be right – saying nothing and
feeling true compassion for my friends. I confronted myself and
realized that I needed to change. So I made it my mission to,
first, find out why I was doing and second, make myself stop.
Number one, why was
I doing it? I knew what the Bible said. Jesus said in Matthew 7:1
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” So, clearly, as a Christian, I
should not judge other people. And, then, to drive his point home,
Jesus went on to say “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again.” So, not only was it wrong for me to judge other people, but
those other people would judge me just as harshly. Bummer, I
thought. But I persevered. I pondered long and hard about why I
kept doing it. Knowing it was wrong and knowing the consequences
hadn’t been enough – there had to be some other reason why.
After several days
spend in deep soul searching and prayer, I finally figured it out.
I realized that the reason I judged other people so harshly was
because I judged everything harshly. I realized that nothing
ever lived up to my expectations. Not just other people’s behavior,
but my own behavior, work policies, the car I drove, my writing
attempts, the cost of living going up every year. Whatever.
Whatever it was or whatever it concerned, I was not happy about it!
And I finally realized that judging other people was really just a
symptom of a much deeper problem with me – my overly critical
nature.
How To Stop - Part 2
1 [2] Next
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