It is easy to view another person’s life, and to make rash judgments about him, when we do not have to live his life. We can enjoy the security of being an outsider looking in. From where we sit we may only see the “tip of the iceberg” of his situation. We may have only a thimble full, if that, of understanding what makes that person the way that they are.

Every person’s life is uniquely different. We cannot make unmerited judgments about a person, or adequately vocalize our opinions about how he should be living his life until we know and fully understand all of the ramifications and consequences that govern and surround his life.

We have no God-given right to assume anything about a person until we have at least taken the time to get to know him. In getting to know a person we may need to close our mouths and open our eyes to the reality of his situation, and open our ears to listen to what that person has to say. We need to realize that his or her life experiences are not necessarily comparable to our own. In other words there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent. There is a time to be the voice in a conversation and a time to be the attentive listening ears. There is a time to be the teacher and impart knowledge and there is a time to be the student that is taught and takes careful notes.

In order to gain even a miniscule amount of understanding another person’s life we need to try “walking a mile in their shoes”, viewing the world through their eyes. Then perhaps we will not be so quick to make unfair judgments or formulate absurd opinions about that person.

We must learn to respect and treat everyone as we would want to be treated and respected. If do not want other people to make hasty judgments or formulate unfair opinions about us, then we should not do so about them.

© 2012 by Keith Lionel Brown

Tags: Life Judging Verdit Love Kindness

Bookmark: