Judging humanity

Tweet

Yesterday (November 5) twelve people were killed when a gunmen open-fired in a building in Fort Hood, Texas. The reports included the law enforcement officer who was able to shoot the alleged attacker, and also about the attacker's history. But this post is not about that. It's about the comments left by others on some of the stories. One report informed us that the attacker was called a non-politically correct label of a Muslim, though I don't recall how often by how many. Since he is a Major, I hope it was not officers routinely calling him that, and I can't imagine non-commissioned officers doing that to an officer. The comments that were left in response to this story were full of anger, even at the news agency reporting of the name-calling, saying that they were excusing the action. I didn't read that anywhere in the story, it was just reporting that particular fact. There were comments made about those who follow Islam, how the accused attacker ought to be locked up for life; it wasn't until the 15th post (the last one by the time I got to the article) that there was a civil poster, who not only left a note of sympathy for the victims, but also noted about the stresses of military life, how it can't be known how it affects individuals. Looking at myself, I have had incidents that made me judge others as less than me, with their anger and need to entertain themselves with unkind conversations, but it just came into my awareness that I am just as judgmental; with loud talkers, those who use obscenity or race/religion-hate words, and yes, those others who judge others, be it me as the victim or others. Can a person prevent oneself from judging others? I think it will be a worthy goal.