The futility of our criticism

Too often, we judge people based on our own experiences and principles - forgetting that each man is different. To further portray the absurdity in this approach, consider someone claiming that 200kobo has more value than 5Naira because the former has a larger number attached to it than the later.

It's obvious that the person is not taking into consideration the difference in nature of the Kobo and the Naira. The comparison is based on what the person "sees" about the Kobo and Naira, and not what he knows about them.

Likewise we judge people too quickly without understanding them? How can we review a book we haven't even read?

When Abraham Lincoln's wife once criticized the southern people of America for their actions, Lincoln replied:  “Don’t  criticize  them;  they  are  just  what  we  would  be  under  similar circumstances.”

If we understand that other people are just reflections of who we would have been if we had gone through similar experiences as they did, we will see the futility in our criticisms.

Benjamin Franklin gave an insight on his tactness on handling people;  “I  will  speak  ill  of  no  man,” he  said,  "  .  .  and  speak  all  the  good  I  know of  everybody.”

In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People(my favorite😉), Dale Carnegie opined that "Any  fool  can  criticize,  condemn  and  complain  -  and  most  fools  do".

Instead of condemning people,  let's try to understand them.
( Keywords: 1. Understand, 2. Them.)

Knowing why people do what they do breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness.

I will end this with  a saying by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the English writer,  he said:  “ God  Himself,  sir,  does  not  propose  to  judge  man  until  the  end of  his  days.”

Why should you and I?

#OlusolaWrites