by Jules Pierre

Created on: August 07, 2008

I'm just me, trying to contemplate my way through life. It's funny that our natural inclination is to label judgement as bad. Judging isn't bad. It's how we act on that judgement that ultimately matters. Maybe this is getting caught up in trivial definitions but I think the subtle difference illustrates an important point.

If I were to decide that a certain used car salesman ought not to be trusted I would have made a good judgement if the car turns out to be faulty. I would have saved myself from undue (presumably) stress and expense. If I was wrong in my judgement I may have wronged a poor guy just trying to make a sale. The actual judgment though, is surely necessary. Judgement helps to guide us and protect us from would-be harms.

I have similar issues with the concept of generalising. Prejudice, when used in its negative sense, may cause harm to someone based on an unfounded conception. Generalising, or even prejudice where it doesn't cause harm, helps us to form an opinion of something where we are not presented with all the facts. We are often able to better understand a given situation from a small amount of information.

Judging someone can also help us to better understand ourselves. By comparing ourselves to our opinion of others we can improve on our own short-comings. My initial judgement of someone else's behaviour lets me glimpse at the probable reaction to my own behaviour. I think it's important to not see judgement only in the biblical 'cast the first stone' sense.

Still, negative judgement in itself can be a bad thing. Even when we do no harm to the person we're judging. It can prevent us from better understanding each other. It can close our minds to new ideas and concepts that we might otherwise learn from. If I formed an adverse judgment about someone preaching the wonders of alternative medicine or vegetarianism, for example, I might never understand what wonders there are to be found there.

Where others might be affected I think the important thing is always to act fairly no matter what natural bias our judgement instils in us. Furthermore, we should try to use our judgement to better understand a person - his reasons for behaving a certain way, her insecurities, his culture, her religion.

Who are you to judge someone? I'm can't answer for you. I'm just someone trying to grow from my experiences and encounters. I don't think that's any bad thing.

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