According to Wikipedia: " Judgment is the evaluation of evidence in the making of a decision. The term has four distinct uses:
1) Informal - Opinions expressed as facts.
2) Informal and psychological – used in reference to the quality of cognitive faculties and adjudicational capabilities of particular individuals, typically called wisdom or discernment
3) Legal – used in the context of legal trial, to refer to a final finding, statement or decision based on a considered weighing of evidence, called "adjudication".
4) Religious – used in the concept of salvation to refer to the adjudication by God determining heaven or hell for each and all human beings."


This post is speaking only to 1 and 2 above. Since I opened this can of worms, I guess now is as good a time as any to expound on the topic!

At times, we all find ourselves sitting in judgment of others. Whether it is because of the way they talk, or walk, or dress or whatever. Judgment can be a good thing. Meeting that stranger on the street, your quick judgment of their character may save you from harm. Or it may open your heart to a new found friend. Sometimes we pass judgment when we should not. I can only speak for myself, but I try hard not to do that. And when I do, I chastise myself for it. I can say, that most of the time, those judgments take place only in my own mind.

The damaging kind of judgment, and might I also add "damning" kind, is when you use it to raise yourself, if only in your own mind, to a level far superior to the person of whom you are speaking/judging. And you feel the need to share your judgment with others. This means judging people that you KNOW. Possibly even people that you love. Judging for the sole purpose of putting other people down in order to raise yourself up. This can be damaging to the person who is the subject of the judgment. It is also damning, damning of the person is who doing the judging. It is damning for the person doling out the judgment because it shows their shallowness; it shows that they feel that they are better than others, for whatever reasons they've chosen, and that they are going to make sure you know how much better they are. Reference my post "TV Ads and Passing Judgment". Take my grandma.....and her passing of judgment on those dear sweet neighbors, because they had the leprous condition of being "catholic". In my grandma's world, being anything other than Lutheran was a mark against you. But have the misfortune of being raised in the Catholic faith and you were lower than low. (Ironic that the religious affiliation is the point of judgment here....when the Bible specifically speaks to judgment being left to God).

Is it right or good to pass judgment on people you don't know? Quite frankly, No, in most cases it is not right or good. I say Yes when the judgment is based upon body language, things the person is saying, and the feelings of threat and danger. Yes! By all means, use your judgment to the best of your ability. But judgment based on how a person dresses, on how much they weigh, on where they work or what they drive or where they live...that is not right and it is only a means of making yourself feel better about you. And we ALL do it....at least some of the time. I pronounce myself GUILTY of said offense. I see women everywhere, dressed in what I feel is inappropriate clothing. Shorts and skirts that are far too short, tops that leave very little, if anything, to the imagination, parts of their body which are normally covered, hanging out. I know that this is partially a product of our upbringing. I was taught that it is inappropriate to dress certain ways. So when I see it, bells ring and flags wave in my mind, warning me that my Mom and Dad would have killed me if I'd gone out dressed like that. And of course, my Mom and Dad were always right, right? Ha Ha! They did also try to teach me that judging others is not the right thing to do. There was a difference because how people dress was speaking to morals. I was also raised in the era of "girls don't call boys!" And you certainly were not to be "too available"...because that meant you were a loose girl, lacking moral integrity, and no decent man was ever going to want a loose women with no morals! I know that this is a big part of my judgment of people I do not know and the way they are dressed. You might be wondering why I am speaking of people I do not know here.....it is because if I feel that someone I know is dressed inappropriately, I will tell them and explain why I see it that way. That doesn't mean that they will see it the way I do, but I am not skulking about, putting them down to others. I tell them to their face!

Bottom line, we all pass judgment. Sometimes it is for good reason, sometimes it is not. What irks me, as I said in that other post, is when people make it their mission in life to have something critical to say about everyone. Just know that most people can see through their shallowness and are not fooled. And anyone with half a brain will be wise enough to know that they are also a target for that damaging judgment. I know I am not fooled. I know that when I am described to others, there are plenty of really nice things that are said, but the shallow will also include all the things that are "wrong with me".

I try very hard to live by this: Judge not, lest ye be judged. And I also try to remember that I need to "remove the plank from my own eye before I look for the splinter in yours".