I’m pretty sick of hearing the “No Judgement “catch phrase being flung around at the moment. To me it’s the equivalent of the pervading PC Narrative that is getting people, schools and countries into hot water – but that’s another story.
To tell someone that they “shouldn’t Judge” to me is silly and unrealistic.
The word judgement can have other legal interpretations; however it really is simply the formation of an opinion on something which carries no other connotations. We should all be aware of the phrase “A good Judge of character” and if you aren’t aware….perhaps you should endeavour to become so.
Being able to judge another’s character is a valuable life skill. There are numerous examples I can give you whereby to form an opinion of someone else’s moral standards and behaviour is not only valid but necessary. For example choosing and finding your life partner. How about selecting an employee to hire. More importantly……..who you trust with your personal safety. What if one night you are walking along an empty street alone and a couple of young guys in hoodies are heading towards you. You feel uneasy as they look suspicious for no obvious reason other than perhaps their odd behavior. Do you make a judgment call to cross the road or perhaps head towards an open shop ………or continue straight towards them ?
It’s also something we should be teaching our children. If we don’t instill this basic survival mechanism of identifying when a person could be of questionable character into our children, what happens when one day your child is out playing on the front lawn and is approached by someone who intends to do them harm. Instinct will tell them something is not quite right….but they have a convincing story like the one I heard in a town just 20 minutes away from me last week. A man approached a 5 year old in the front yard, asked him to come and help with his car which he said had broken down. Now luckily that child felt wary and didn’t head over to the car parked on the nature strip out the front of his house…..and his sister came out….and the man went away. What would have happened though if the child had been taught never to judge. To put aside odd feelings and believe everyone should be trusted and loved? I shudder to think.
We need to be able to judge if someone is telling us the truth or lying.
We need to be able to judge the distance from here to there while driving.
We have to be able to judge if something is morally right or wrong.
We must be able to form opinions on things so that we can choose the appropriate actions to take henceforth.
Perhaps I am oversimplifying things….but I’m pretty sure this topic is not actually that complicated. The lefties and the wanna-be Mother Theresa’s and Ghandi’s complicate it by turning decision making into some awful process of putting other people down. If someone is a violent offender, then I judge that person unfit to be around and sometimes people do need to be put down so to speak.
What really get’s on my nerve is this type of rubbish which I’ve actually heard. (Pls say this in your best whiny voice and place an inflection at the end of every sentence for full effect).
“Sooo the other day while I was working out, this overweight woman walked into the gym and I really admired her and there was like no judgement or like anything”……….Zzzzzzzipp……stop. Back up. You called her overweight. You formed an opinion…stated it…..and therefore you judged her !
Or what about this tasty gem “Oh my gosh….you are so judgemental”. I’m sorry……did you just form an opinion of me? Then I’m pretty sure that’s judgment…so you are judgemental too hypocrite.
I’m just going to leave this here now and wait for the barrage of comments that I am sure will ensue.
I stand firm in my belief that Judgement is necessary. And sometimes It’s necessary to make it with minimal time and information.
What’s not necessary though is to form an opinion and then use that as an excuse to behave badly yourself. That is not judgment, that is the act of bad behaviour.
What’s wrong is to be unkind or judge someone unfairly or unjustly and treat them poorly undeservedly.
It still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ever judge.