Be Wary How Ye Judge – Sunday, September 21, 1952
As to the difficulties of arriving at justice and fair judgment, one philosopher observed: “We must remember that we have to make judges out of men, and that by being made judges their prejudices are not diminished and their intelligence is not increased.”1
It is high tribute to say of any man that he is just in all his judgments. And it is higher tribute to be able to say that he is generous as well as just in judgment. Ungenerous judgment is an unfortunate character fault, and perhaps no one is ever innocent when an ungenerous person is his judge.
It sometimes seems that there is nothing men do quite so much as misjudge other men. Whether knowingly or not, it is a perennially prevalent fault to permit personalities or prejudices to enter into the judgments of others. There isn’t anything that anyone could do that couldn’t be misjudged by one who wanted to misjudge. There was never a mortal man in whom fault could not be found by one who wanted to find fault. There is no act or gesture that could not be misinterpreted by someone whose mind was so set. There is no uttered word to which someone could not give a different meaning from what was intended.
No sentence is ever written that could not be read in different ways. There is no one who could not in some respects be presented in a bad light by a prejudiced person. In other words, either we can decide to see the best side of a man or we can decide to see his worst side—and we see the side we want to see.
Perhaps this is in some degree inevitable so long as people are imperfect—and that seems likely to be for a long time. But the fervent petition of Solomon could well be the earnest plea and prayer of each of us: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart … that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge. . . ?”2 Whether it be among our friends or family, among our own intimate associates or absolute strangers, one of the greatest qualities of character is to be just and generous in judgment.
And with a plea from Paradiso again we could well let Dante give us these words of constant warning: “O mortal men, be wary how ye judge.”3*
*Revised
1R.G. Ingersoll, Speech in Washington, Oct. 22, 1883
2I Kings, 3:9
3Dante, Paradiso, XX
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station KS L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, September 21, 1952, 11:00 to 11.30 a.m., Eastern Time. Copyright, 1952
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September 21, 1952
Broadcast Number 1,205