From the Observation Deck

Ahhhhhh Spring. Millions of students are in the process of finishing up the year with finals. Those stress-filled tests that are designed to hold students accountable and to sort them from smart to not as smart. This is human nature folks. Let’s see how we measure up against one another.

Another way we judge people is by the TV shows they watch. My inspiration for this post came from the show Greek. Judge me if you will, but I like it. One of the characters, Dale, is a science genius and a conservative Christian. So he is your basic geek (yes, that’s a judgment). When the show started, he was against the Greek system and had pretty strong views about homosexuality. Over the course of two seasons, he hasn’t compromised his beliefs but he hasn’t turned away from or unfairly judged people who are in the Greek system or who are gay. Two of his best friends fall into those categories. So it is possible to keep your principles without judging others too harshly.

In the last episode Dale was upset that his art history teacher was going to have essay questions on the midterm exam. When Dale heard this his response was, “Essays? No, no. That leaves way too much room for teacher interpretation and frankly this guy’s kind of a nut bag.” That’s right Dale. Teacher gets to subjectively judge you. And to all you students out there—that’s life. Sometimes you get nut bags and sometimes you get lifelong mentors.

But hey, it’s good practice. Because for the rest of your life you’ll be judged on all sorts of things. For example, what you find funny, what you like to watch on TV, what you do for a living, what kind of car you drive, your opinions, and very relevant to my current life—your resume. You really shouldn’t worry about any of that though. What you should focus on is how you treat others. Do you judge people unfairly? While you are pondering that thought, take a look at this picture of me in third grade. If I was judged harshly based on my clothes, I would not have made many friends. (By the way Mom, thanks for letting me out of the house looking like this.) The girl next to me happens to be one of my friends, even after all these years. I’m taller than her now but she always had better fashion sense and never cared if I wore ugly shoes. Show the love people and good luck on those exams, applications, interviews, and first dates.