Spread the Love

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
-Matthew 7:3-5

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
-Mother Theresa

"Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."
-Wayne Dyer

"We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path."
-Paulo Coelho

What is the reason for all the quotations? You might ask me this question if I were before you right now, as you are reading this. Well, the topic of these quotations, judging others, has been on my mind a lot lately, more so than ever before. You see, I used to think I was an expert at judging others, and it was one of my biggest weaknesses. I would walk down the street and think quietly to myself about others appearances, and if I was not alone I would occassionally let a judgemental comment slip from my lips, never thinking to actually look beyond the physical appearance rather than judge based upon an appearance different than my own.

I look back now and feel so ridiculous and childish. The statement "we learn from experience" really rings true through my heart. I've made many decisions and changes in my life throughout the years that not everyone has agreed with, and I have been judged for my decisions and actions just as I had judged others in the past. Now I know that until the end of time we all will have differing opinions on different situations in life, whatever it may be about. We do not have to agree with the decisions of others, however, it is never our place to judge.

No two people's lives are exactly alike, no two people have experienced the exact same pain, no two people have experienced the exact same struggles, and no two people have had to make the same choices.

So I ask, how can one possibly feel that they are in a place to judge the apperance, decisions, actions, or beliefs of another? Why do we waste our time passing judgement on others when we ourselves have plently of things to improve upon in our own lives? I believe so strongly that if we would take the time to get to know the heart of a person before we hastily make rash judgements this world would be a much easier place to live in, and much pain that we cause others could be avoided.

I am NOT EVEN CLOSE to being perfect. I still end up judging others at times, but I have made many changes in my life to improve upon this weakness. I have a wide variety of friends to which I am very grateful for. Each one of them has taught me something different, something valuable, something I would not trade for the world. I love each one of them for who they are, strengths and weaknesses, good and bad, past and present. This was made possible not by hate, not by judgemental behavior, but acceptance and love.


So I mentioned I had been thinking about this topic for quite a while, for months, and I feel now more than ever that the solution is love. It always has been and I believe always will be. I wrote this poem one night, about a month ago when i was thinking about this very topic. Now, I'm not a poet, I just enjoy writing, so it's nothing great by any means but it really helps to portray my thoughts on the subject. I hope you enjoy it.

We Become One
By Shanon Oler

On the outside
we all seem different
black, white, gay, and straight
overweight, skinny, tall, and short
drug addict, alcoholic, sinner, and saint.
Yet one things brings us all together,
there is one thing that can create ties between
the two most unlikely people you could imagine.
Love.
In love there is power,
the power to create a peace,
a harmony in an otherwise chaotic world.
In love you lose sight of discrimination and hatred,
physical and emotional differences,
of addictions, sins, and self-righteousness.
Love is within each one of us and
it is love that rebuilds the broken heart,
gives us the strength to forgive, and to let go,
and it is love that we yearn for
no matter how bad we have hurt before.
In love we become one,
tied together by a world of unspoken similarities.


Spread the love!

Shanon Carlie