by R Marie Taylor

Created on: January 31, 2008

Times have moved on, so very quickly that some people get stuck between the changes. Especially as we get older, we tend to become set in our ways until we die.

What may seem like judgmental behavior to the 'enlightened mind' is usually someone clinging to the belief systems that existed when they were younger. Some of these obsolete belief systems have filtered down their family tree, and have been absorbed as absolute truth by some branches of the family.

Actually, people need to have a clear understanding in their own minds about the things, events and other people around them. Having a pre-conceived idea about something is a major reason why human beings have survived on the earth.

We pool our collective memories to make decisions on what's safe and familiar and what is not. That's why Northern and Southern Irish and Korean children don't trust each other, at least not completely. Because they've been conditioned to believe that people outside their belief system are wrong, dangerous and the enemy.

Judgment is the final analysis of information stored in our minds about the world around us,it's how we function. For example, if you see your 13 year old daughter hugging and kissing a 40 year old strange man, then chances are you're going to have a problem with that. You're going to 'judge' that man as some kind of pervert and therefore a source of danger to your child.

Take a moment and think too about how swiftly society is changing.

We've gone from women and minorities knowing 'their place' in society, with homosexuality being a 'taboo' subject, to serious debates about the exact definition of marriage. (Is it between men and women or simply two single adults....) and everything from sports, to the workplace wide open (more or less) to everyone.

We've gone from Jewish death camps in Germany to a Jewish State that's fiercely supported by several nations. How is it possible for someone that has grown up and bought into an ideology to suddenly have to shift their thinking because the stronghold their 'side' once had over the Country has been lost?

It's like China invading America and in a 25 year period, any talk of 'freedom' or 'democracy' is out-dated and unacceptable in the 'new society.' This is why some people appear to be judgmental, they simply can't keep up with the warp-speed changes in society, and many of them don't want to.

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