Oh! How we love to judge. “Look at her.” “Look at him.” “Don’t turn around now, but after I get up from the table, turn to your right. Not now! I said after I get up.”
Okay, let’s admit it. The indefinite variety of humanity intrigues us, and those we believe that lie outside an “acceptable” (read “enculturated”) range of looks, mannerisms, and behaviors are subject to on-the-spot judgments. Disfigured face? Ridicule. Strange gestures? Ridicule. Affinity for a hobby? Ridicule. We can be a tough audience, sometimes even a gaggle of hecklers. More often, a silent finger-pointing group: We clandestinely judge.
Return to that “indefinite variety of humanity” that intrigues us. Watching people is nearly, if not totally, a universal habit. There are all those other “yous” out there: You know, other members of the same species, more or less symmetrical about a central vertical axis with a head at one end and a butt at the other. Variations of you, aren’t they? Some things held in common. Maybe many things held in common. The familiar is all around us, so that one little difference here or there becomes the focal point.
Maybe when we judge others on their differences, we are just judging ourselves on our sameness.
Okay, let’s admit it. The indefinite variety of humanity intrigues us, and those we believe that lie outside an “acceptable” (read “enculturated”) range of looks, mannerisms, and behaviors are subject to on-the-spot judgments. Disfigured face? Ridicule. Strange gestures? Ridicule. Affinity for a hobby? Ridicule. We can be a tough audience, sometimes even a gaggle of hecklers. More often, a silent finger-pointing group: We clandestinely judge.
Return to that “indefinite variety of humanity” that intrigues us. Watching people is nearly, if not totally, a universal habit. There are all those other “yous” out there: You know, other members of the same species, more or less symmetrical about a central vertical axis with a head at one end and a butt at the other. Variations of you, aren’t they? Some things held in common. Maybe many things held in common. The familiar is all around us, so that one little difference here or there becomes the focal point.
Maybe when we judge others on their differences, we are just judging ourselves on our sameness.
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