Thursday morning was recycling morning. Stacked in front of one house was evidence that a heavy drinker lived there. Maybe. There is a trailhead close to these homes and occasionally a lone man with his dog can be seen cleaning up the trash left there by partiers. It is amazing how people can come to a nice clean place in the forest and leave it looking like a pigpen. So it is not unusual to see this man leaving the forest with a garbage sack full of trash and beer cans.
It is so easy to judge people. Feeling somewhat like Sherlock Holmes we observe and then form clever deductions. The people walking by the pile of beer cans waiting to be picked up by the recycling man might draw a conclusion about the residents of that house.
Most of us are guilty when it comes to playing the Sherlock Holmes game. Often the things we think we know about people are just not true. Much of what we think we know is conjecture and supposition. And even when we do actually see someone doing something we cannot know his or her motivation. Jesus is so right when He tells us not to judge others.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2000
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