Once upon a time, a man picked up his brand new, amazing luxury automobile. He was extremely happy and proud of his new purchase. As he floated down the road toward home, suddenly there was a loud Thump. He thought it sounded as though one of his doors had been hit hard with something.

He stopped the car quickly, got out, and discovered that his worst nightmare had indeed come true: someone had put a HUGE dent in the front passenger side door of his new source of joy!

He looked back to the area where he had heard the impact, and saw a boy rushing toward him. The man was LIVID! He was about to scream at him when the boy shouted, “I am sorry, mister, but my younger brother is lying back there hurt really badly. I HAD to get someone’s attention so that he can get to a hospital.”

As you can imagine, all the anger that the man felt immediately left his mind and body. He went into Helper mode, and ended up saving the young man’s life.

This story leads to a question: How would YOU FEEL if that had happened to you? I know that I would feel the exact same way that the man in the story did.

It is so easy to rush to judgment, isn’t it? We assume that we know ALL of the pertinent facts about a matter – any matter – in the heat of a moment. The challenge is that there is ALMOST ALWAYS some missing information, just as there was in the story.

Why do we do that? I believe that it is mainly a defense mechanism. We feel many times that our way is the only way. Anyone else’s way (belief, comment, action) must therefore be wrong. If we do not judge, our way may be threatened. It may be tested. It may actually – gasp – be proven wrong.

Here is a friendly reminder that you probably have heard before:

“Judge not, that you not be judged.”

That advice has been around for 2000 years, so it is not new. And great advice it is.

The unfortunate reality is that you WILL be judged by many others – whether you judge them or not. Once you accept this as the truth in this fallen world, the sooner you will come to realize that the big lesson from the above quote is that WE are not to judge.

Should you not love anyone, because some others will not love you back?

Should you not forgive anyone else, because some people will never forgive you?

If you said No to these last two questions, then why would you continue to judge others, just because others are going to judge you?

Decide TODAY to stop judging people. You cannot control what other people do, but you CAN control what you do to others.

Decide to get all the facts first. Decide to assume the best about other people in all circumstances. If the results are not desirable, decide to take the appropriate action…

…but do so WITHOUT JUDGMENT.

Who knows? You might just end up encountering the equivalent of a scared big brother with an injured little brother when you listen without judging.

You might just end up being the hero in your own story.