Judgment

I'm sitting in a circle of 68 men and I'm teaching a class on discrimination.  As class prepares to end I snatch my Blackberry from my side to check the time.  It is then that the man next to me asks, “Wayne, why don’t you wear a watch?”  The question is innocent enough. But somehow, in my mind at least, it seemed to dog pile upon a question asked earlier as I counseled a man who suffered great abuse while a child.  His question of me, which seemed to emerge from the deepest part of his soul, “Wayne, you are a pastor, a counselor, and successful family man, how can you possibly understand what it feels like to be abused?”

            As I look around the circle I see men of all sizes, ages, and racial backgrounds.  Yet I'm guessing each have judged me … each have sized me up and generally come to the same conclusion the earlier man had … “Wayne, how could you possibly know?” So I run the risk of class running over and I begin to embark upon what I hope will be self-revelation with a purpose. 

            “Gentlemen, when you look at others you only see what is before you.  But each person has a past and the past holds the reason for everything we do or don’t do.  Here’s why I don’t wear a watch … I was a freshman in high school returning with some 40 others from a sporting event when one of the upper classman had an idea. He teamed up with several others and, prompted by dislike, threw me up on the luggage rack. They bound my hands and feet to the bars using duck tape, having already taped my mouth. For over 3 hours they then beat, poked, pinched, and slapped me until they grew tired.  Ultimately, once arriving home, the entire bus vacated – including the coach.  Today, the only thing I wear around my wrist is the Native American wedding band.”

            Judgment comes so easy for us.  In a normal days time, each one of us quite probably makes a thousand judgments.  We judge circumstance.  We judge things.  We judge people.  And THAT is where things get dicey.  

            We can only judge people by what we see and that is what makes it so dangerous.  Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." (John 7.24) I'm thinking our world would be better off if folk tried to understand before running to judge.  What do you think?