Editor’s Note: In March 2010, we began posting the work of Enceno Macy, an inmate in a U.S. prison. Enceno’s articles are sent handwritten, then typed and edited by a trusted editor. Comments typed into the response area will be sent directly to Enceno. Thanks for reading and for the warm response he’s received each time. –efc & ajp
by Enceno Macy
Judgment is a word with many faces. In Christian lore according to the gospel of Matthew, the Last Judgment will determine each person’s eternal fate entirely based on whether each gave or refused help to “the least of these,” named by Jesus as the poor, the hungry, the helpless, the sick, the imprisoned. In our courtrooms, judgment ideally is the process of reaching an opinion through careful weighing of evidence. In our personal lives, judgment is further defined as either good judgment or bad judgment: a sensible decision or reasonable act is attributed to ‘good’ judgment, and a blunder or criminal act results from ‘bad’ judgment.
As if that weren’t confusing enough, we then have the word “judgmental,” which is generally used in a negative context to mean someone who is over-critical, over-eager to find fault, seeing only the worst in others.
Almost everyone can relate to being judged. It happens every day, in all cultures to some degree. It is the natural result of humans assessing and evaluating each other’s conduct; our lives can depend on the accuracy of our judgment. And whether we admit it or not, we all judge people. Our perception or understanding of the person judged affects our tolerance of that person.
For example, a person who vehemently dislikes homosexuals will avoid any association whatsoever with someone perceived as homosexual, while someone else who also dislikes gays may have no problem being around them in other contexts like work or sports or church. Both judgments are the same but the way each one treats gays will be very different (substitute blacks or hispanics or Jews or other disfavored groups for homosexuals and you get the same result).
Growing up, I was both the cause and the product of unfair judgments. I think race is the most obvious reflection of what such judgments can do. Because of preconceived notions of how blacks act and what they do or how they are built, I was an easy target as a child. Some people expected me to be good at sports, some figured I could only like rap or R&B music, some thought I couldn’t be trusted, some thought I was inherently stupid. As a kid, I didn’t understand how these stereotypical judgments keep people — including myself — from being open to any other possibilities. My size and color contributed greatly to my being judged early on as a troublemaker or a nuisance.