and my thinking sometimes gets me in trouble. For several months now my thinking has been dragging me down. That's not a recipe for a happy life. I like to think (like many of us do) that I am a person of integrity. Among my personal thoughts on integrity is the idea that one should not judge others. This, of course, comes from my Protestant background. When analyzed, I realized that I have been guilty of judging others - some harshly. In particular, the "others" are the current government, and especially the President and his cronies. As I have written many times condemning their actions and agenda, I am left feeling sad. It took a lot of soul-searching to pinpoint the reason. Violating one's own convictions should create at least some semblance of guilt, thus, my sadness.
"Knowing that we can change our thoughts releases us from the hold any negative idea or opinion has over us." Course in Miracles
This morning I had an "aha" moment when a scripture of the New Testament popped into my mind. It's always been easy for me to remember the "shalt nots", consequently, "thou shalt not judge lest ye be judged" frequently flashes before me. (I admit I have lots for which to be judged.) This morning's "aha" was what a good friend of mine mentioned to me when I was sharing my guilt with him. He reminded me of the following scripture. In John 7:24, Jesus said, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment". (Emphasis mine.) Whew! I now feel somewhat vindicated in my indictments of politicians behaving badly. Now I have only to work on my tendency to judge others besides politicians! Unless, of course, I'm using righteous judgment. (Hmmmm)
"Integrity means following your moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no one is watching you. Having integrity means you are true to yourself and would do nothing that demeans or dishonors you." (yourdictionary.com) I love their examples of everyday integrity found here: Examples of Integrity
"Americans have always assumed, rightfully so, that every President we elect begins with and maintains a level of integrity, civility, dignity and respect. We assume he or she won’t insult another candidate’s looks or refer to a journalist on her period, demean a war hero, brag they could shoot someone on 5th avenue and still get votes, make fun of a disabled person or lie as a matter of course."..."Only when his most loyal stand up and tell the Emperor he’s not wearing any clothes will we restore the dignity and integrity that’s fast eroding inside the Oval Office." (Laura G. Owens, Huffington Post)
Please don't judge me too harshly for this post. After all, I used a lot of other folks' words and pictures. Oh, no! Please don't tell me that is wrong. I've tried to give them all credit!
Peace, love, and good thoughts,
Marilyn
P.S.
Today is a special day for a very special grandson:
TRAVIS
Thanks Marilyn! As a judgy-judgerton myself, this is good stuff to reflect on. Also, I wish I shared your optimism that the president is capable of changing his behavior, but I just don't think it's in his DNA.
ReplyDeleteThis is not exactly on my mind these days, but it is sort of relevant
ReplyDeleteto your discussion:
As you know, I was raised among protestant southern Baptists. And I was
taught that tolerance and respect were the same; i.e. if someone was
different than you, or had different ideas or behaviors than you, then
you were supposed to simultaneously tolerate them and respect them for
their differences.
In my later life I have come to the realization that that is nonsense;
that tolerance is one thing, but respect is quite another.
We have to be tolerant, even when we do not like someone, because it
is quite likely they do not like us either, and we want them to be
tolerant with regard to us. This is very clear.
But it is absurd that we should at the same time be expected to respect
them. (Depending on the situation, respect might or might not be called
for). I will give only one example, which should make it clear what I
have in mind:
Consider an Arab man who wears jeans, T-shirt, ...and goes out whenever
he wants to socialize with his male friends. But he requires that his
wife cover her head, bodice closed to the neck, not show her bare arms
or ankles, even when it is 100 F, and certainly not go out in public
unless she is accompanied by a male relative to watch over her.
I have to tolerate him and the existence of similar types. But I will
never have any respect for him and his ilk.
You can make up your own hundreds of examples...including many of our
current politicians.