To Be Judged

It is true that everyone has more than one side; portrayed as good and evil, good and bad, the little angel and devil sitting on one’s shoulders, etc., etc., but it is the choices that we make and how we react to situations is (in part) what defines us.
Most of us live in that gray area in the middle of the light and dark, leaning more towards one side or the other. However this is a slippery slope because how each of us chooses to live our lives, there will always be others willing to judge our choices; chalk it up to human nature if you like. We somewhat judge others based on our own lives, but usually it is based on an ideology we have towards a certain group, even if we ourselves while in that same group don’t follow the guidelines of what’s being judged. Is that fair to look down on others while we share similar traits? Sure it is, because I am the exception and not the rule; I have reasons (or excuses) that can be listed out on why I should get a pass and not condemned for my actions, and not be held to the same standard that I judge others by.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover” is a well know saying in my part of the world, but people are judged (both fairly and unfairly) daily. People are loved, liked, hated, ignored, bullied, walked on, judged, and/or persecuted (a large sliding scale on that one) because of how they look, talk, act, where they’re from, and so forth and so on.
Christians are too easy to pick on in this case, but they are an easy example. I am a Christian, I am proud to be one and I do not hide from that fact; in fact I even have the Bible verse that saved me tattooed on my arm for all to see and start conversations about. I have Christ in my heart and I am confident that I am Heaven bound. Does everyone see me that way? No, but I am ok with that because I know that there are standards that people have that I am being judged by, and in the end their opinion has no bearing or influence on where I spend eternity.
With that said…there are a lot of judgmental Christians that have no right discriminating against others. They look down upon people based on income, where you live, how you dress, how you look, where you’re from, color of your skin, political affiliations, friends, etc. We all know at least one person who is like that, the funny part is that they refuse to recognize it within themselves. Am I judging people in a group that I am part of? Yes I am! However I am not basing it on how I personally live my life, but on the teachings of God’s word, and the teachings of others up to this point in my life. The moral of the story is: “Do as I say, not as I do”.
I was blessed to grow up in a beautifully mixed area of the world where everybody was equally poor no matter of one’s ethnic background. I was raised in a Mexican American household (literally as my dad was born in Mexico and my mom here in America). I got my first official job after graduating high school working at a second hand store. The employees were made up of approximately 30 women and 3 guys (not including the 2 managers) that were mostly white. Being white shouldn’t matter unless you judge others by their ethic group, and so for this story it does. Whenever a Mexican family would come in the employees would spread the word to watch them; not because of stealing, but because of trashing the store. This would instantly piss me off and I would say something…every time. Yes there was a Mexican family that would come in and let their kids run around pulling stuff down; that was 1 family not every family, but yet every Mexican family was judged just the same. Although I could easily prove (with the store’s video surveillance cameras) that white people trashed the store more than any other ethnic group nobody cared because even though I looked white I was biased.
Are you more surprised when a poor kid from the ghetto robs a store or when a rich kid does? Do you make sure your car doors are locked, or hold your purse/wallet a little tighter when a person who you perceive as a thug walks by? Do you judge a person by their character or their tattoos; by their word or how they wear their clothes? I can go on and on, but the fact remains that we all live our lives a certain way, react differently, judge others, are judged by others, and until you are in a place where you can honestly step away from yourself you’ll never fully understand or care why someone did what they did (good or bad). Heroes are judged just as much as criminals.