walk a mile in their shoes

It hit me today that it is impossible to judge someone’s situation until you have lived through it yourself. It’s very easy to look at the guy on the street corner begging and assume that he is there because he’s drunk, high or just plain lazy. The truth is often not as simple as this; many people become homeless for many reasons, often not through their own actions. We should not , therefore, judge anyone without having first hand experience of their situation, otherwise we will often be wrong. This doesn’t change my views of course, but it certainly does make me see things in a slightly different way. While I still do not believe in a tax funded benefits system, I do not judge the people who use the system as it is. Until I am in a situation where I have to rely on benefits, I cannot judge someone who does. This also applies the other way too, a lot of people do not like Bill Gates purely because he is extremely wealthy, however, it is as wrong to judge Bill Gates for his wealth without having stood in his shoes as it is to judge the guy waiting in the queue for his benefits cheque. All of my arguments for what I believe in do not come from judgements of people, but rather ideals based on individual freedom. However, in everyday life it is necessary to remember that our life experience is extremely limited, and any judgements we make are heavily biased because of this, and therefore we must remember to keep an open mind at all times and to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes any time we get the chance.