Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Wrong Side of Judgment

"People either love you or they hate you," I'm often told, "and those who love you really love you but those who hate you seriously hate you!"

It's true regardless of what you do ... even if it's good.

Back in my corporate days I hired lots of women ... of all colors ... gay or straight ... because they were smarter, more ambitious and willing to do go above and beyond. Consequently less than a quarter of our workforce were male

I thought it was a good thing.

Then people posted on the Savannah Morning News webpage that it's "all about Micheal Elliott and his Harem" ... how I take advantage of women ... I'm a swinger ... and what a rotten person I am.

Shaking my head as I read these things I marvel ... not only that people believed such things but publically pass their judgments on for all to see.

I'm not saying I'm perfect ... I already confessed to breaking the majority of the 10 Commandments and a few of the 7 Deadly Sins ... but the things they said simply weren't true ... or certainly not as true as they said them.

I am not one to judge often going overboard giving others the benefit of the doubt.

Waiting on a meeting to start, talking to some guys, one says, "Did you hear about Rob? He's separated and living in an apartment ... seems he can't keep his pants zipped up."

Immediately I feel a sympathy for Rob and his wife, Susan, a peer at work, and walk away from the conversation.

Who knows what happening to Rob and Susan ... though obviously they're going through tough times.

Shortly afterwards I find myself with Rob who's standing in a corner of a room either being shunned or too wounded to talk.

Making a beeline, I give him a hug and ask, "How you doing man?"

Though far taller than me, Rob shrinks a bit but we chat until the meeting starts and he seems grateful as his sad eyes keep darting to me.

In the end Rob and Susan work through whatever it was and are happily married as they now slide into retirement.

Perhaps he couldn't keep his pants zipped up or maybe Susan keep her skirt pulled down or ... who knows except them ... and who should really care?

We love to judge, condemn, put on trial and execute before asking.

I've been on the wrong side of Judgment in my life and hope I've learned from it.

I'm certainly not one to rush towards Judgment.

There's already far too much in the world.