I find myself agreeing with many points of view on the issue of whether
judgment is good or not. I wonder if it doesn't depend on your job.
I heard a Rabbi today say that his job was in many ways similar to that of
a therapist. Despite the similarities, he said, what he did was
nevertheless quite different than what a therapist did. So for example,
if you commit adultery and you want to talk about it, it is the Rabbi's
job to tell you there are consequences. Impact on children, spouse,
church and so forth. It is the Rabbi's job to tell you it is wrong. On
the other hand, the therapist offers understanding. The therapist's job
is not to tell you it is wrong, but to accept you.
Some of the other stories may fit the same pattern. As a parent, I can
relate to Ivan's stories. His role really was to not take sides.
Robert's examples may also fit. As an employee I must take a stand on
workplace theft, even if I know the thief is only doing it to feed his or
her family. The thief may also get vastly different judgements from a
policeman & a social worker.
How does one not make a judgement on behaviors like racism or
anti-semitism? I think we must. At the same time we may be able to see
the roots of such behavior in ignorance, habit, fear, anxiety, and so
forth. In this case, we may wish to condemn the behavior, but not the
individual, especially if understanding will help alleviate the root
causes of the behavior. Therefore, even within ourselves, we may wish to
play different roles even simultaneously.
Does this make sense?
--Rol Fessenden 76234.3636@Compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>