Judged by the Sun—See [Tests].
Judging—See [Cynic Rebuked].
JUDGING, CARE IN
A traveler in North Carolina saw an old colored man sitting in a chair in his garden, hoeing. The traveler laughed. He thought it was a case of monumental laziness. But he happened to look back as he laughed, and he saw a pair of crutches lying on the ground by the old man’s chair. At once what made him seem ridiculous before made him seem heroic now.
When disposed to criticize, remember human infirmities. (Text.)
(1696)
JUDGING FROM FACTS
We must not judge any act without knowing the facts of the case. “See that man! He has sat on the bank all the morning throwing pebble after pebble into the water. How lazy he must be!” “Is this a fair judgment?” I inquire. And at the end of a warm discussion, I tell my pupils how Turner, the artist, did that to watch the surface of the water in motion and learn how to paint its sheen and color. “A child is walking quietly along the sidewalk. Suddenly a rough looking man seizes her and pushes her into the gutter. Is he cruel?” Of course every one answers yes, at first. But no—a mass of ice is about to fall from the roof above the child’s head. Her assaulter turns out to be her protector.
In teaching, of course, every good teacher passes from examples to principles. Through such examples as these we elicit the fact that we can judge no act on sight, for every act is open to a good or a bad interpretation. The eager energy members of my class show in pointing out possible good motives for acts that at first sight look selfish makes me feel sure that they will not in later life condemn unheard. “The special part of this ethics course which stands out in my mind as important,” writes one of my pupils, “is that on right and wrong judgments. It makes me realize how little right we have to judge people from appearances. There are so many sides of people’s characters that we don’t half consider or appreciate.”—Ella Lyman Cabot, “Proceedings of the National Education Association,” 1909.
(1697)