I'm just bashing this out,
more like streams of consciousness than a formal essay - but I’ve never liked
all the bile and nastiness on social media, and I've tried my best over the
years not to add to it. My policy tends to be, if I haven’t got anything
positive to say, I’d rather avoid commenting than add to the negativity. I
generally endeavour to make my points in the most encouraging and generous way
I can, and I’ve tried to be even better at that in the past few years. This
means, though, that if anything I post does ever seem harshly critical, you can
be assured that I have tried to carefully consider the position from the other
side, and have still found it inexcusable and deserving of reproach.
I also try very hard not to be personally unkind. It’s perfectly fine to judge what people say, and the claims they make – political, economic, religious or otherwise, because you’re playing the ball not the man. When someone utters a proposition, they are putting it out there and inviting a response from others. When people live their lives, and the mistakes and flaws that go with them, they are not.
As the old maxim goes, great minds talk about ideas, and small minds talk about people.
I’m saying this to make a wider comment, that I believe we should:
1) Do our best not to judge other people – we usually don’t really know enough of what we need to know to make a sound judgement.
Why on earth would you think it wise to judge people you know almost nothing about, where what you do know has usually been given to you via a narrow and biased media source? Consider what it says about you if can see no issue with this kind of judgementalism.
And:
2) Pay much more attention to those who are preoccupied with trying to positively change themselves, and much less attention to those who are preoccupied with trying to change others.
Of course, as we all know deep down, criticising others is usually an avoidance tool, to evade the personal responsibility required to address our own faults and wrongdoings, and positively change ourselves. It’s much easier and less courageous to point out what’s wrong in others, and let ourselves off the hook. And there is enough thought and energy required in sorting ourselves out to last a lifetime. Those who hunger most for wisdom have very little time or inclination to point out what else is wrong with the world - there is enough to do sorting oneself out.
