Perception, the prior Judgement..

This title has been lingering in my head for more than a week already. I told myself that I would try to blog more meaningful and beneficial things. However, even something that is supposedly meant to be positive can also offend a person. The fact of the matter is, you can't please everyone. This is something that no one should ever attempt in trying to do, because the enormous effort will only be in vain. As it is impossible, and we will die trying to achieve that.

There's this saying that goes, "don't judge a book by its cover". Referring to people in this context, it actually means do not judge a person by his/her outward appearance, instead get to know the person first. How often do we actually put that into practice? How many of us can actually honestly say that we don't judge.

I can say that I've made this mistake before, and sometimes it deprives us from getting to know the "real person" beneath the outward appearance. There are times where we would need to apologize, be humble about it and apologize that we had made a wrong call. We Mis-Judge someone. Judging is what leads up to the aftermath, the execution. But what is before that? What causes us to judge?

It is what I believe is perception. There are many interpretations to it, mine in this context is like a pre-judgement. If we were to apply that phrase again " don't judge a book by it's cover", this would be like just hearing about the book and think negatively about it. In a more humanly context, it could basically mean that you did not even get to meet the person, but you hear someone rant about him/her, and you form an opinion already of the person.

Even in the bible, God talks about this in Matthew 7:1-3

 ¹ “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Well, there is no short cut solution to working around this. It takes alot of courage and humility to admit a mistake, let alone to someone you have not seen eye to with. However, if you are right about the person, that doesn't mean you have the right to judge the person. Like what a good friend told me, "everyone has their skeletons, it's just how well they keep it".

Everyone has flaws, just that some are more visible compared to others. Well, a flaw is a flaw nevertheless. What maybe unbearable to you, may not be to someone else. Don't judge, it's a painful way to lead your life. Seriously, it's not worth it. You have nothing to lose, and possibly something/someone to gain.