Thought Provoking #15

This lovely quote can be attributed to Dr. Mitchell Perry, a psychotherapist.

I’ve always felt that judgment is one trait that all humans share. It’s ugly, but we do it. We all know someone who judges others constantly, with vigor, and others who simply make snap judgments. I personally believe we judge other people by the way we perceive ourselves.

What irritates me is for a person to judge a “situation” they themselves have never encountered.  Years ago I worked with a woman who judged everyone for everything.  (She was a miserable person. We’ll call her Miss Judgment.)  Another woman who also worked with us had been very ill and out on sick leave a lot.  She came back from one of her sick leaves with a different appearance.  She had on a shiny blonde wig.  Miss Judgment took one look at her and blurted out: “Why does she have that ugly wig on? You can tell it’s a wig! She looks silly!  I would never wear a wig!”  I looked her straight in her face and said, “This is not a known fact but she has battled cancer which is why she has been out so much this year.”  Miss Judgment’s total expression changed and she felt bad but it didn’t stop her from continuing to judge others.  Some people are really that miserable.  The only way they can feel good about themselves is to constantly judge and pull others apart.

I’m making a diligent effort to not judge what I don’t know.  We all have different situations, different upbringings, different environments and different issues.  I read a statement from someone once on judging and he said it’s an “undo-it-yourself-project”.

So perhaps the next time you find yourself in a situation where you’re judging someone’s situation that you’ve never encountered, you’ll remember this wonderful quote and you won’t do it.