I spend a lot of time thinking about and looking at other people. The ones I pass by on the street. The ones that sit next to me in the classroom. Strangers, friends, businessmen, hipsters, celebrities, athletes, rich, poor, homeless, home-with. People. I always wonder the ways in which their brain moves. The things they think about when they don’t have to be thinking about anything. Or maybe some people always feel like they have to be thinking about something.

I think about how different we all are, even down to our tastes in food, clothing and what we do with our leisure time. I think most immediately about the way we look. Our diversity is unbelievable and so cool. Like the rest of my fellow humans, I make an assessment. Based on what someone is wearing, what they look like, what color their skin is (though I think how you carry yourself tells more than just this), how normal their sentence structure is (like that isn’t subjective), or how old they are, I make a judgment as to what they probably do, where they probably come from, and what they are probably capable of.

Before I’ve heard a word of what they have to say for themselves, I usually have them put inside a box more manageable for me to carry. After thinking and thinking about this, I think (ha!) I have come to realize the reason that I do this: It’s easier. It’s easier to get to know someone when you think you’ve got him or her figured out. It’s easier to put a limit on how much you should love them when you think you’ve diagnosed what their problem is. It’s easier to retain my own value when I’ve assigned someone else his or her value.

I don’t necessarily agree with our nation's anthem when it says in loud proclamation, "Don’t judge!" That’s ridiculous. That’s all we do as humans. We are constantly making judgments, and it is not a bad thing to do so. It’s when those judgments impede on the value that each individual has within them that it becomes a problem.

I can notice you are a black man and recognize that means you are different than me in so many ways. But not in lesser ways. See the difference? I tend to resonate with the words of a well-known Teacher and Savior who said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7.24). What He didn’t say was "Don’t judge at all." He said, "Judge with right judgment."

For me, this begins in realizing the position I am in. When I realize that I am the broken one, other people begin to not look so broken. When I realize that I’m not always right, other people’s point-of-view becomes much more desirable to be heard. When I realize that I’m not the point of all that’s going on around me, other people begin to look a lot more like treasures that I get to sift through.

Let’s quit being so quick to listen to the catchphrase of our nation and start being quick to listen to the words of the One who says, “Judge with right judgment.”

And how do we do that? Get a higher perspective.