Rush to Judgment

For as long as I can remember, some parts of society believe you are guilty until proven innocent. Our laws believe it is the other way around, thankfully. If we are accused of wrongdoing, we are still assured of our due process under the Constitution.

My favorite book (and movie) is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The book is fiction, and it is enriched by a great plot and subplots. In the main theme, a man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a woman. The story is set in Alabama in 1933. Tom is black. The woman is white. You see where the story is going. Tom was automatically guilty because he couldn’t be trusted around white women. This was untrue then and it is untrue now. Yet, because of this work of fiction as well as many real life stories, the south has forever been deemed to be racist. It isn’t.

Rushing to judgment clouds the thinking. It’s difficult to see truth when you are looking through the lens of guilt. Facts matter.

I encourage you to steer clear of judgment, all judgment. Put yourself in the same situation and treat others as you would like to be treated.

Freeing yourself from judgment opens you up to seeing people for who they are. And isn’t that what we all want?