I often struggle with pre-judging people and then not taking the time to correct my thinking by getting to know them. Last Sunday I had the presence of mind to correct this bad habit, at least for one time.
While at church, I saw a man sitting in the foyer who looked different from me and I pre-judged him—an unkind and unfounded impression formed in my mind. I quickly recognized my presumptuous thinking and wanted to correct it so I stopped, introduced myself, and engaged with him for about five minutes. I left the conversation thinking, “he and I could become good friends.” I had totally misjudged him.
As humans, our instinct is to quickly form an opinion of others based on the information at hand. Science says we can’t do much about those initial reactions, but we can discipline ourselves to challenge the impulsive assumptions. Abraham Lincoln knew these initial instincts were just hypotheses (I don’t like that person), and that they must be investigated and tested (I must get to know him better). Psychologist Paul Bloom says these snap hypotheses are often justified and even correct, but as rational beings we should constrain our impulses and investigate further.
Several old adages express the same thought: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “Don’t judge someone’s outside by your inside.” The Bible plainly teaches “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
There is an organization in Denmark called The Human Library where you can go to a library and instead of borrowing a book, you borrow a person. That person sits with you and tells you about their life. It’s an opportunity to understand another person’s perspective and life experience. What a great idea: a judgment buster.
Think of someone you might have misjudged and take the initiative and time to get to know him better.