Something has been on my mind lately. It’s been itching to come out. But I couldn’t quite figure out how to say it. I finally have the words. It’s about judgment.
The truth is we all judge one another. I notice myself doing it. I see a mother on the street, and I don’t agree with what she’s feeding her kid, or the way she’s talking to her child.
Recently, I’ve been judged. And guess what? I didn’t like it. Not one bit. In fact, I feel like I’ve had the wind knocked out of me. It wasn’t from one source, but from multiple parties. Each time I was judged I got angrier and angrier. What does this person know about me or my life? They don’t know what my experience is.
I try as hard as I can to be the best mother that I can, to maintain order in my life, but not everyone will agree with my choices. Not every person is going to understand the way I parent, or the way I live my life for that matter.
We don’t know what other people go through in life. We can’t know what it’s like to be them or have their experiences.
But when we judge people, we don’t try to understand them, we simply apply a label to them:
“lazy” “mean” “push-over” etc.
Each time I was judged, I found myself wondering this:
I wish this person would try to understand where I’m coming from.
Though I know I will continue to judge others, because we all do it, I will try to better understand where the person in question is coming from, rather than applying a harsh judgment to them. I will attempt to do this because of how terrible I’m feeling right now, because I am so angry. I feel misrepresented and misunderstood, and I don’t wish these feelings on anyone.