Last updated on April 6th, 2021 at 12:47 am
We too often tend to make quick judgments of others based on their shortcoming rather than take the time to think about it and celebrate the things in which we excel.
It’s easy to hate. It’s easy to whine, complain, point fingers or speak ill of others.
But the easy path is sometimes the worst to take, as the rewards from traversing the path fraught with discipline and perseverance can be sometimes FAR greater.
So how do we stop? How can we stop imposing prejudices on others and start respecting each other for the things we CAN do well?
Here are a few steps we can try:
SELF-AWARENESS
First off, we need to check ourselves. Without knowing what it is that drives us to make the wrong calls, we’ll keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Know your habits, what views you’ve inherited from family—all that sort of stuff. None of it should be ignored.
OBSERVING THE SITUATION
Get it right the first time! For example, when I was on the cruise in June, people assumed I was a worker on the cruise three times. THREE. Why? Because there weren’t a whole lot of Black people vacationing on the ship (3,300 passengers, 1% of whom were Black—give or take; 1,200 staff, 10-20% Black, at least). Heck, there weren’t a whole lot of Black people in EUROPE. And the way people stared at Sarah and I being an inter-racial couple where it doesn’t really happen? Made me really appreciate diversity over here in Toronto. So make sure you get the facts straight. If you can do this right, it’s one of the key components of being able to see past the surface and treat people for what they really are—not just what we see on the surface.
HOLDING EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE
But we need to watch each others’ backs as well; without keeping an eye on the behaviour of our friends and family and calling the crap when we see it, everyone will always believe that they can act however they like without consequence. Every little action we take has the potential to develop into something greater.
If we do these, we might be able to stop with prejudgment and hold off Judgment Day just a little bit longer, if you catch my drift.
216/365
2 replies on “Judgment Day”
While I’d like to think I’m not this way, you did admonish that self-awareness is the first step. It’s something that I think, for a lot of us, will be a lifelong goal or aspiration: to refrain from judgement. Great post!
Thanks, Gwen! It’s never easy to get these kinds of views and approaches out of our systems – it’s almost like reverse engineering everything we’ve learned about how to think. –Casey E. Palmerhttp://about.me/caseyepalmer/bio