“A 24-year-old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted… “Dad, look the trees are moving backwards!” His dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby looked at the 24-year old’s childish behavior with pity, when suddenly the boy exclaimed… “Dad, look the clouds are running with us!” The couple began to really feel sorry for the boy, as well for his father, and suddenly said to the old man… “Has it been difficult for you to raise a developmentally challenged child?” The old man chuckled and said… “Actually, my son was blind from birth and we just came from the hospital where he finally got his eyes back…”
Have you ever grossly misjudged someone like this at any point in your life? I know I have and have had to put my foot in my mouth a number of times because of it. While it’s relatively easy to judge someone at first glance, it’s not so easy to take back those judgments once they’re vocalized, especially when they’re wrong.
I went through this just recently at a friend’s party I attended. There, where the predominant attendees were gay men, someone showed up that I had always assumed was gay himself. When I approached him, smiled and said, “I always wondered if you were gay and now I know!”, he responded uncomfortably and said “Actually I’m not, and this is my wife.” I’m sure I turned two sheets of red after that just like I did when I’ve asked a few women over the years how far along they were with their pregnancies only to find out they were just heavier-set women with a bulge in that area. Or when I’ve asked individuals where their accent was from only to find out it was just from a speech impediment. So yes, I’ve definitely put my foot in my mouth far too many times because of making erroneous judgments just like the couple did in this story.
Obviously, I still have some work to do in this area of my life, so I’m glad this story was a good reminder of that for me, as ultimately, I think the only one who’s really qualified to ever make any type of judgment is God, and I’m definitely not that, that’s for sure…
God, I pray for help to have greater restraint of pen and tongue in my life, especially when my mind starts to make up rash judgments of someone else from a first glance. Please guide me in all my thoughts, words, and actions so that they may become free from judging others, as I desire to leave that solely up to You.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
