To Judge or To Not Judge

You know what really hurts?

Being judged.

I mean, I've been judged in the past. Who hasn't? We all have certain qualities that stand out from the rest. That's not a bad thing. In fact, I find it glamorous! Learning about Walt Whitman has given me a lot of insight on individuality, how he still managed to be successful. Being bisexual and writing about it caused him quite a few head aches. Leaves of Grass is still considered one of the most controversial pieces ever written, remarkable considering its time period.

I suppose it is human nature: to look at something, scrutinizing, and notice that some aspects aren't comparable to yours.

I bet you're judging me right now.

But, just because something is engraved into our brains, does that necessarily make it just?

The first way to forgive ourselves is to forgive others, to realize that people make mistakes, that people are people. If all people are people, then we must be all the same, unified. It isn't this simple, though. We descend from different families, different cultures, and a lot of our behavior is hereditary. On the other hand, concepts such as religion, perception, and politics are mostly decided as we age. These things are a part of free will.

Thus,  though it seems tempting to decide who a person is before confrontation, it can be considerate and rewarding to not do so.

Atticus seemed to have gotten it right:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”