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When We Judge Others...
By S. J. Reisner
Not "rated" by the Author.
Last
edited: Monday, August 29, 2005
Posted: Monday, August 29, 2005
Most of our censure of others is only oblique praise of self, uttered to show the wisdom and superiority of the speaker. It has all the insidiousness of self-praise, and all the ill-desert of falsehood.
~Tyron Edwards
Or as my mother always told me growing up [when other kids teased me], "What people say is wrong with you is most likely what's wrong with themselves."
I used to do this in my younger years. I would criticize those who disagreed with me to show how much better I was. Upon further reflection -- I had that same negative trait that I had criticized them for having. It's interesting how the human psyche works.
Insults are really nothing more than a coping mechanism people use to protect themselves from the things they fear are true , don't want to believe, or simply don't believe. It's how they keep themselves safe from themselves because the most frightening thing of all is to look into the mirror with eyes wide open and see into the self.
The self is not always a pretty place. It is laden with envy, greed, anger, self-righteousness, conceit, and a myriad of other "flaws" we would all like to think we have never possessed. I am no different. I've been greedy, rude, self-righteous, angry, vindictive, selfish etc... at various times in my life or within certain situations. We all have. It's called being human. Perfection is possessed by no man or woman. We all have choices to allow what we deem negative traits to rule us because we are all blessed with free will. Basically - each person can *try* to not allow these behaviors to become a permenant part of our personality. That doesn't necessarily mean we'll succeed.
So when we judge others perhaps we should step back for a moment and judge our judging. Are we being fair? Or are we acting on a double standard? After all, you cannot condemn a man for drinking from the well that you drink from every morning.
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