Judgement Day

JUDGE-verb: to come to a conclusion by way of reasoning, to decide, to examine and pass sentence on. Over time, we have been cautioned to “judge not, that ye may not be judged”, “walk a mile in another’s shoes”, “judge ye righteously that ye may also be judged righteously”, “live awhile in someone else’s skin” and a variety of other sayings all telling us to be sure to get all the information before we “pass sentence” on someone else.
And yet, we continue to think we know all about the people around us and why they do whatever it is they do. We don’t ask questions, we don’t imagine what the motivation might be, we don’t seem to cut anyone any slack any more. Except ourselves!! We have every reason in the book to justify our behaviors but we turn around and condemn those very same behaviors in others. I don’t get it! I really don’t!
I often wonder as I see someone with a long list of “wrongs” that others have done if they would like the list of their “wrongs” pulled out and waved in their faces? Do they think they have never committed any hurts? It seems to me that these people really do think that they have never done anything offensive to anyone! That is impossible.
I’m beginning to think the whole world gets up everyday to be angry. Whatever happened to understanding, tolerance, letting go and forgiveness? These traits have disappeared. We are humans. We are not perfect. We will hurt one another. We ALL will at sometime. Don’t we want forgiveness and understanding towards ourselves for our mistakes? We MUST give the same consideration to others.
We will never find peace as individuals, as families, as nations, etc. until we can learn these basic principles. Remember the Serenity Prayer? “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change: Courage to change the things I can: and wisdom to know the difference.” Learn it- live it.
We are so quick to take offense. A very wise man said once, “If you say something in a non offensive way and someone is offended by it, it’s not your problem, it’s theirs.” I was reminded of this in my last job. One day, I received an e-mail telling me that my e-mails were too long and chatty. I started making sure I was business like and to the point. Then I received an e-mail from another person in that same office that informed me that my e-mails were rude!
I have the following in a frame on my wall- “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Amen!! That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?