Judgements

Judgement: The evaluation process to make a decision.

Should you buy or lease a new car? Evaluate, then decide. Should I buy more craft supplies? Probably not but I probably will. No one is hurt.

Judging others: Oh boy..... lots of hurt in that.

Recent stories in the news in my part of the world have me thinking about those who judge others, often with derision or outright condemnation.

• Gwyneth Paltrow decided her life as a working mom is more difficult than a mom with an office job :   "It’s much harder for me," Paltrow said in an E! News interview. "I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening. When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day and that part of it is very difficult." "I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set."

• Tory Johnson is a weekly contributing reporter on Good Morning America and author of The Shift, a book about her weight loss. Her weight loss decision, in her own words, "happened 18 months ago when a woman named Barbara Fedida told me my clothes didn’t do me justice and that she wanted to send me to a stylist."  "Barbara is the highest-ranking woman executive at ABC News and I am an on-air contributor for Good Morning America. She never used the words “fat, diet or obesity” but her message was clear: I needed to lose weight. Let’s face it: on TV looks matter."

•  Locally, a party store owner was killed by armed robbers. He was of Arabic dissent, the robbers were black. The comments made by some at online news sites is horrific. I feel outrage regarding this death, but it is the violence, not someone's ethnicity that is abhorrent. 
  

In the last example, I am guessing that many who spew hatred online behind anonymous names would not utter all of those feelings in general public, but obviously the judging and hatred is there. 

Why should a person's weight be a factor in any job if they can do their job? I watch Good Morning America often enough to know that Tory Johnson's work hasn't improved because she lost weight. I am not implying that she needed to improve in any manner. I am happy if she feels better about herself, but that isn't the point. You don't have to watch much TV to realize what is expected regarding physical appearances, especially for women. Living in the north as I do, I often roll my eyes when local female news anchors complain about the bitter cold weather while wearing sleeveless dresses. I guess showing off toned arms is more important than being comfortably warm. 

I've never been a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow so I will be careful what I say lest I sound judgmental myself. 

I have no idea what it is like to be an actor. Based on her bio, I don't think it is an unfair assumption to think she never had to struggle financially, worry about rent or how to stretch the grocery budget. Even without that assumption, she has never been a working mom in a 9-5 office job so she certainly should not be making comments on how someone else has it easier. 

When will people stop putting others down in an attempt to feel better about themselves?