Judgin'

Don't even bother denying; you're judging.  

Right now, you are judging whether or not you want to take the time out of your busy day to actually read what follows these sentences.  Whether or not this cute little blog is worth your time.  You've probably already judged the setup of the site, the background and various other details.  We all do it.  

So whatever happened to "thou shalt not judge lest ye be judged"?  

Throughout the summer, I have some pretty odd jobs; I give swimming lessons, I umpire, I babysit, and I make funnel cakes.  The last one is probably the most random of all my summer jobs.  I work for my grandma in a funnel cake stand; we go to a couple of different shows (monster truck rallies, tractor pulls, 4th of July festivals) and sell funnel cakes.

Normally, I'm the window person.  I smile at you from inside the hot, greasy trailer, and inform you that a lemonade and funnel cake will cost you nine dollars, and could you please step over to the pick up window for your funnel cake.  All the while I'm doing this, I'm judging you.  

I am assuming since you are a monster truck rally, you have no life or could be considered "redneck".  I'm guessing that because you threw such a fit over the line that you are impatient.  I believe that you are a bad mother because your children's clothes fit poorly or are stained.  I decide that you are uneducated because you couldn't take the time to read the prices clearly marked on the window to my left.  

What's funny is, they are probably judging me.  The girl working in a funnel cake stand; her eye makeup a little smudged, hair frizzed, and nose pierced.  I must be a high school dropout, or a young mother.  If I fumbled in counting out their change, they may think I'm uneducated. They see me joking with my brother and assume he's my boyfriend.  Because I am wearing a bandanna in my hair, and multiple bracelets on my wrist, I must be a "hipster". 

It's a vicious cycle; we all have eyes and ears, we see and hear things that make us think, we cannot turn a blind eye to the world.  So how then, do we stop this whole judging thing?  By making the effort not to.  

One woman who came through my line had pink hair.  She had at least five piercings in her face alone, and had four visible tattoos.  She also had two clean, well-mannered kids with her.  She was polite, thanked me, and then recognized me right after I had finally placed her; she is the woman who had done my body piercings.  Which goes to show; we can't judge a book by it's cover or where you even found it. 

So judging?  We all do it, and can't help it.  The trick with judging people is to not let our judges and assumptions rule our lives.  When in doubt, refer back to one simple rule:

Love thy neighbor as thyself.  

Keep it simple, keep it classy, instead of judging them, love them.

Totus tuus,

LeAnn