A Book by A Cover

A story on judging.

Tonight was an interesting night.

I live close to the whole Ferguson debacale. I don’t have much to say about it but I often get accused at being one sided or biased. Perhaps I am.

Tonight I had dinner at my daughters house and my grandson and I were talking about what people look at in a person and I explained to him that two things mattered, I pointed to my head and explained being smart mattered and the other thing that mattered is the heart of a person. I don’t think he totally understood but, he will.

After I left their house I had to run to my least of favorite places Wal-mart. I’d notice this guy when I was walking around, you know the type, short, long greyish wild hair, no teeth and very… well… rural. I walked on and went to the back of the store, I’m looking for a heater. There are a few to look at and before long the long haired guy is standing next to me, looking for a heater as well. Behind me is a woman sort of hanging around. I am sure to be robbed. My hands are full and my purse on my shoulder, I figure I need to address this so I speak first: “WOW, lots of heaters to choose from”. He agrees and from there goes into a very long and detailed explination of heaters. Ceramic, wire, amps and watts. He shows me one that has not changed in years and is the same watts as the others. It’s 30 dollars less expensive so I decide I need it. My hands are full so I explain I’ll be back, I need a buggy (cart for you other folks). He says no, let me get it and he leaves, goes to the front of the store and returns with a buggy. I thank him, put my items in, we chat a bit more and I take the 19 dollar heater and head away. He’s a hunter so he’s buying the same heater for a cabin he’ll be in. We leave and later I see him in the store and he says Hey, Hi again!

That’s the last time I’ll see him.

I did not get robbed, quite the opposite I was helped and I learned a lot about heaters.

Judging is something we all do and I do judge, but, so do you. It’s a common defensive mode. It’s also something we do because of environment or life experience. I’m not saying it’s right but it is what we as humans do.

I deflect back to two things.. possibly three. You judge a person on their brain and their heart and one more thing, their actions.

I get accused a lot of my judgement on Ferguson and there’s a lot of judgement to go around. My judgement goes on heart and actions. It’s not a color issue, it’s a an actions issue.

You judge a person by the look in the eye

You judge a person by what comes out of their mouth

You judge a person by the way they act

You judge a person by what they are not who they are

and hopefully you will judged the same way….

So, what do heaters have to do with judgements? For me, a lot!

Live life

Lisa