forgiveness, indiscriminate love and mellow-naturedness.

I want to love my fellow man... I love brightening up someone's day or sharing love more than anything in this world. Without it my world is a gray and hopeless.

In the end, all we have is each other.. but sometimes I discriminate in my heart from one person to another.

I see someone, and I judge them... I feel afraid of some people, and I feel loving toward others... I know that not everyone is going to be nice or loving... I know that some will want to hurt me and my ability to discriminate between the two is terrible.

I'm always on my guard, but when I see an old hippy and I know that they will be kind and loving toward me... and I want to be just like them.. the kind of person that you can just let down your guard and be whole.

So how do you people do it? Accept people when you yourself may not be accepted in return? Especially when so many people hate hippies out there...

 

That is a part of human nature.

Judging a thug as someone to be suspicious of could save your life.

Don't try to stop yourself from having bias - that's impossible - just know to recognize your biases and avoid making unfair ones.

 

You never know though, some people look tough but they're good people... some people look nice but they're wolves in sheeps clothing. I mean... It's hard to discriminate these days.

I for one find it easy to discriminate against nearly everyone for some reason or another.

But I think you may have something to it.

 

I said a thug, not someone who looks thuggish.

By this I mean, someone who is out to cause trouble, be it a mugger or a volatile person looking for a fight.

If you happened to stay away from them, because you didn't like something about their looks (whether it's awkward the way their one arm is in their pocket, or the mean mug they have on), you could save your life.

 

There is nothing wrong with judging people. It is necessary to survive. People who claim to not judge people are full of B.S.. They judge others just as much as the next person: they have contempt for those who admit they judge, which is itself a judgement. So, admit that you judge, and that you need to, and don't feel guilty about it.

Loving everyone is different. You can love a person and still cross the street to avoid them if you judge them to be a threat. Loving them means that you wish them well. That is a good thing. You can wish a bad person be well, that they stop being bad. It is still necessary for you to judge them as dangerous even while you lovingly wish that they weren't.

Forgiveness is about how you hold onto or don't hold onto hurts. It's not about them; it's about you. Forgiving someone who has hurt you means that you let go of the injury, that you stop being angry about it. It helps you because anger and resentment burn you up. The other person doesn't need to know that you have forgiven them, although telling them might heal an injured relationship. Forgiving them just means that you choose not to keep carrying that stuff around with you.

 

^ beautiful, true post.

You are a wiser man than I, sir.

 

Thanks man, that answers everything pretty well! I knew it was impossible (at least for me) to not judge, now I understand.

Also, I'd like to thank duck... Judge a man by his character, not by the way he looks.:2thumbsup: