No court of law required; time to pass sentence! We can at times be caught up in a vicious cycle of judging others. 'Something' happens and we get a 'little wind of it.' We then run to town (and all over the country) with this 'burning news' shouting or whispering "Hot off the press!" To and fro we go, unaware of the damage we could be inflicting on another's reputation or the confusion we could be starting or fuelling. Yes, there are those who don't help their already tarnished name, but we have to stop and think about our motive for sharing what we don't know for a fact to be true. Additionally, we see someone with something we wish we had and we are quick to negatively assume how they got it; or we see someone dressed in the oldest clothes and we become scornful. Why? Why not? We just love to judge others and we excuse ourselves easily by saying "everybody done know that already!" Some make it their business to be head of 'the gossiper's brigade' and recklessly continue this bad habit saying: "Where there's smoke; there must be fire!"
Let us STOP and put ourselves in the other person's shoes. I read an email recently about a doctor reaching late to perform an emergency operation for a young man. The father of the patient was so annoyed that the doctor could be that insensitive and irresponsible! After the operation, the doctor ran off again, only stopping to briefly say that "things went fine." This was much to the now increased disgust of the father. It was only afterwards the father found out, that the doctor was at his own son's funeral when he got the emergency call and he left the funeral, making every effort to be there to perform the surgery in spite of his own personal loss. The reason the doctor ran off right after? So that he could say a last goodbye to his dear son. Like the father in the email, oh how quick we are to judge! When will it end? I beg of you; if you are in the habit of doing anything remotely similar to what is being expressed, look for a new habit to replace this ugly one! Let's assume the best of and in others, in spite of how tempting and 'juicy' the news may seem, because it may be juicy now, but sour afterwards for us also.
"Who laughs last, laughs the best" has turned out to be true for those who refuse to take heed; but being judgmental is really no laughing matter! The same time and energy we take to be judgmental can be used to at least say a prayer for the person(s) because when we genuinely pray for others, we are less likely to condemn them. After all, only God knows the entire truth, so He is the only one with the right to judge! Imagine if He became judgmental of us! "To judge or not to judge?" What's your answer to Him? We ALL have 'cocoa in the sun!' - Things that we would not want to be in the public domain, crucial information that we trust others will be confidential with. 'Do so don't like so!' If we don't like it for ourselves and for those close to us, then we have to extend the courtesy of not gossiping to others, which includes strangers. We are all a work in progress. Let us not be part of the reason why others find it so very difficult to progress. Who hasn't made a mistake? Trying to embarrass someone because of their mistakes is a premeditated mistake, which is really not a mistake. 'Who see who with who and who was by who with who,' doesn't have to make us owls! Switch the letters around in the word 'owl' and see that we don't have to bring others 'low,' because we are only pulling ourselves down. I say again: "This vicious cycle has to end!" Each of us must remain mindful that the 'little wind' we add to, could be the start of a raging storm that WE get caught up in. Think always about what valuable life lessons we can learn from others, because when the jury is 'out for us,' is it going to be: "Time to pass sentence; No court of law required?"
