Judging Others

Just about a week ago, I was having breakfast with my parents and siblings. After which dad started to share about life, how we should live our lives and all. One of the points he shared was how he is a much happier person now compared to last time. He tries not to judge others and forgive them for whatever they have done that may cause him to feel bad. He admits that it is not an easy task, and there are times where he will end up judging and rationalizing about the incident and start to feel angry... but when he realizes that he is unhappy, he reminds himself to let it go, and forgive the person.

Coincidentally, or maybe it was God's lesson plan for me that day, my friend shared her experience that afternoon with me as well! She felt bad that she had done something wrong that day, that she had judged too quickly. She was taking a cab home in Toa Payoh, when she saw another taxi alighting a passenger from afar. She saw the person alight from the right side of the taxi, where the road is, and cars are all driving by. She thought to herself, "It's dangerous! He should exit from the other door!" Eventually she saw and realized that the passer that was alighting was a disabled person, having artificial legs. She then felt bad for judging the passenger too quickly... and concluded that she should not have judged too quickly. 

Personally, I feel that sometimes, we tend to jump to our own conclusions based on what we experience, feel, and see. I am guilty of doing so as well, and am trying to change... There are times where we are correct in deducing what the outcome is, or how things have led up to the outcome. But more often than not, we do not know the other side of the story, and may have misunderstood many situations. If only we did not judge others' actions or behaviour, the world would probably be a very much nicer place to live in. Every action has its consequence, what it is, it really is not up to us to decide. Only time will tell what the consequence is. Let's learn to stop judging others, and instead, check our own lives and see if we are actually doing something that we think we do not like others to do. 

Have a blessed week ahead!