Judge Not

 

By G. E. Shuman

 

Several days ago, I happened to notice that out behind our neighbor’s home someone had discarded a last-year’s Christmas tree. It was real, and was still green, but, come on. It was almost March. What kind of person waits to get rid of their Christmas tree until March? I couldn’t believe it. Later that same day I happened to notice that in front of our home, on our porch, someone (I) had discarded a last-year’s Christmas tree. It was also real and was still green, but, come on. It was almost March. (I had also not yet removed the wreath from the front door.)

My wife used to be a ‘saver’ but has lately decided that less may often be more, which is a sentiment I have always claimed as my own. So, a few years ago she and I went through our home and discarded many things that were serving no purpose and only collecting dust. I loved the way the old house looked after that and vowed to never let it get cluttered again. As I said, that was a few years ago, and some new clutter has somehow crept back into the rooms. This fact is bothering me, especially since realizing that much if not most of those new things are mine.

There is a familiar old Native American saying, (or, at least, old white people like me ‘think’ that it was said by a Native American because we’ve heard it that way so many times,) admonishing us to not judge someone “until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.” Of course, the idea was that we should not judge someone until we have ‘been in his shoes’ (a version of the saying that doesn’t blame it on Native Americans.) Another man’s moccasins or shoes might be extremely uncomfortable and hard to walk a mile in; another person’s life and burdens may be harder on them than we know.  I remember years ago, hearing some TV comedian reciting the ‘moccasin’ version of the saying, and then making a joke of it by adding: “That way, if he’s mad at you, he’ll be a mile away and barefoot.”

It has taken me a lifetime to come to one realization about that idea of withholding judgement until after you have walked that mile. The realization is that the well-meant saying is simply wrong. The old Native American (or whomever it was) that first thought of it assumed that judgement should ever be done by us. The Bible is one place that is very clear on this, with admonitions to ”Judge not that ye be not judged,” and telling us to take the log from our own eye before we try to remove a spec from someone else’s eye.  That hits hard with me… because I know me.

I believe we would all do well to simply stop judging others. In the intense political year that we are beginning, it would also be wise to truly respect a person’s opinion, as being as valuable to them as our own is to us. What ‘side of the aisle’ some family member or friend may be on should not estrange and divide us. Life is much more than politics.

Wherever that old ‘moccasin’ saying originated, I think we can do better. We should hate sin, but not the sinner. We should despise crime and insist on punishment, but then work on forgiveness.

Forget the footwear and the situation. The old saying should say, simply, “Judge Not.” 

It’s All in How You Look at It.

 

By G. E. Shuman

 

I’ve been amazed, and thankful, for the wonderfully mild winter we are experiencing here in Vermont, this year. At this writing, (and I know the situation can change quickly,) there is not one bit of snow on the little lawn surrounding my Barre City home. Yes, that’s amazing to me! It would be less amazing in April, but this is mid-February, after all. We have had beautiful winter sunshine and higher than usual temperatures for this time of year. Which, since you probably live here too, you already know. I have often said that any days that my furnace and snow blower don’t have to run, are good days!

Still, there might be something slightly selfish in my assessment of the recent weather. When I was younger, I’m sure I looked at the Biblical idea of the rain falling on the just and the unjust to mean that ‘bad’ people experience downpours in life, but so do ‘good’ people. I don’t think I took much thought to the fact that there really aren’t any ‘good’ people to get drenched with rain.

More recently, in my wonderful situation of aging wisdom, (ya, sure,) I’m looking at the rain and snow thing a bit differently. Rain and snow are not ‘bad’ things. I believe that The Bible was referring to the rains as actual blessings. For every one of us who will soon be praying for a sunny summer weekend at the beach, there will be at least one farmer praying for rain that weekend for his crops. For every person like me, who looks out his window and at his phone every winter morning to see if we have been ‘cursed’ with snow and low temperatures during the night, there is a skier, snow-mobiler, or winter resort employee looking for the ‘blessings’ of those things.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a person who must talk myself into seeing the positive aspects of life, at times. I don’t try to look for the dark clouds, but don’t often seek the silver linings either, and that is wrong. We can’t change the weather, or many other things that we face in life, no matter what our point of view is.

In the words of Christian pastor and author Charles Swindoll: “We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how l react to lt. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitude.”

Like I said, it’s all in how you look at it.