This I Believe

This I Believe

I believe judging in its entirety is wrong. I believe this because humans do not have the right to judge others based on their appearances or how they act. I grew up a few miles south of San Francisco in a place called San Mateo. Every time I would visit my aunt in San Francisco, we would walk all around the city, visiting a variety of big retail stores and seeing the beautiful sights that the city possessed. People with purple Mohawks and clothes that didn’t fit the classification of “normal” walked past us on almost a daily basis. It didn’t bother us because we were always used to seeing diverse people. Besides, diversity is what makes the city of San Francisco a unique and special place.

In 2002, I moved to Whitefish, Montana, a small, conservative-based, by-the-bible town. It was hard for me to fit in because I was a democrat from a liberal state. In this small town, everybody knows everybody and what they’re doing. The citizens of Whitefish always try to find the worst of people and judge them based upon it. In California, I walked with pride and confidence not worrying about if people were talking about me or not. Now living in Montana, I walk with nervousness due to the gut-wrenching feeling that someone IS talking about me behind my back, judging me because of how I dress and where I come from.

I admit that I’m not a perfect person. Ever since I’ve moved to Whitefish, I have realized that judging is a hard trait to control because it is natural for us to think badly about people. In California, judging wasn’t even a part of my vocabulary partly because of the mass population there and even if you did say something about that person, chances are you probably wouldn’t see them again. More recently, I’ve noticed I judge almost everyday and made a vow that I leave the judging up to the good man upstairs. This change of heart was the result of a feeling in my gut telling me that judging is neither a privilege nor a God given right.

This now brings me right back to where I started, judging is wrong. If society today makes decisions based on someone’s good character and moral values this would greatly change this country for the better. Like I said before, judging isn’t up to us human beings on this rock I like to call Earth. I believe God judges us alongside Jesus Christ to determine if we ascend to heaven or burn in the fiery depths of hell. In the end it all comes down to what you decide. Words can truly affect a person’s life, may it be big or small. This is what I believe.