Have you ever noticed how eager a fool is to run his mouth and immediately expose his ignorance to any and all human beings who are within earshot?
Have you ever observed how quickly and ignorant fool declares to the world how smart and wise he thinks that he is?
Have you ever heard the quote, “ It is better to be criticized and called a fool and remain silent,…than to open one’s mouth in rebuttal and remove all question or doubt.” ?
The “on” button is always depressed in the “fast-forward” position in the mouth of a fool. They seem to delight in telling the world just how unknowledgeable they really are, how uninformed they continue to be, and how really stupid they intend to stay. If only such folks would take the time to ask some critical questions,…to discover some interesting facts or truths relative to the existing situation,… or to study and learn what or why certain events are occurring, before they take any further action or make any additional statements how fortunate we would all be. If they would only do such things, they might just live a little happier life,…they might just be able to help those with whom they are involved become a lot better off than they are.
Oh, but for some good old common sense.
There is an old story about a great orchestral conductor that tells the meaning of my discussion as well as any words I can put together. Permit me to share it with you:
Arturo Tuscanini, the great symphony conductor, was conducting an orchestra which was playing Beethoven’s Leonore overture in a grand European concert music hall. The overture has two great musical climaxes at critical points in the performance. It was Tuscanini’s desire to have each one of these musical high points followed by a single trumpet passage, which the composer intended to have played by an offstage soloist so as to provide a far away sounding refrain.
The first climax arrived, but no sound came from a trumpet offstage. The conductor, extremely annoyed, went right on through the overture to the second musical high point. Again—no trumpet sound was heard!
This time, Tuscanini rushed offstage and into the wings, fuming and having every intent of discovering the problem and its cause and demanding a full explanation. There he found the trumpet player struggling with the house security man who was emphatically insisting as he held for dear life onto the soloist’s trumpet, “I tell you for the last time, you cannot play that trumpet back here! You will disturb the rehearsal!”
Have you ever witnessed someone jumping to conclusions, prematurely judging another person’s actions, words, or written statements? Have you seen the hurt feelings or damaged relationships by and between individuals because of all-too-soon words or reactions by people who don’t have all the facts?
Until you really know why someone is acting the way they do, it is always better not to criticize them. Until you know who has told such a person to act a certain way or take a specific course of action, it is always better not to attempt to stop them.
God specifically gives us His Instruction as to what is the correct manner to use in dealing with these critical human activities. He tells us in The Book of James, Chapter 1, verse 19, NKJKV:
(19) “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.”
That’s just about as clear as anyone would ever need it to be, wouldn’t you agree?
Wrath, anger, hot temper, vocal outburst, and verbal abuse are all different forms of the wrath of man. None of them are appropriate or useful. All such emotional displays violate the Laws of God. Use of them in any form is not only total rebelliousness, but also a complete sin.
To insure you are reacting properly whenever things don’t go in the manner that you would like to have them go, make certain that you maintain total control of your own emotions. Stay calm, cool, and collected. Jumping to conclusions can be very hazardous to your own physical health and more importantly to your spiritual well being. God does not like it at all when one of his children, i.e. a believer, flies “off the handle.”
It has been my personal experience that whenever you judge another person for any reason, you are making a major mistake. This is almost always true because you are operating on too much misinformation or incorrect information without any corrective explanation. “Things are not always what they seem to be.” Man is not capable of reading another man’s mind or seeing into his heart to see what he really is intending to mean or do with his own thoughts and actions. All too often a person will judge another’s actions or failure to act without having all the facts as to what thoughts or directions a person has taken to arrive at the root cause for his actions. You don’t know or even remotely understand the “why” he is taking the actions or what were the ideas or thoughts and reasons behind his activities that you are judging.
As in the story about Arturo Tuscanini’s trumpet soloist and the uninformed security man, if the time had been taken to get full knowledge as to what the purpose was and why the trumpeter was backstage, a great problem and lots of heartburn could have been saved from having happened in the first place. Knowing the facts before taking action as well as the intent or purpose as to why the actions are being taken by other people can eliminate not only lots of confusion and misunderstanding, but also prevent the unnecessary injury to personal relationships. Once you “pull the trigger” i.e, take action or criticize others using incorrect decisions and improper actions, the irrevocable damage has been done.
Water spilled out of a bucket all over the dry ground cannot be recaptured to the original container. It is what,…it is,…lost resource.
I have a life long motto that remains as correct today as it was 36 years ago when I coined it. The motto says: Do not ever alienate anyone who does not need to be alienated. I was incorrectly judged, found guilty and sentenced by some “close personal friends” who, without learning the truth or the surrounding facts of the situation, thought they knew what was best for me; thought that they knew what I should have been done. Their judgment was harsh and unchangeable. Great damage was done, personal relationships were terminated, and lots of business was wiped out. Later on the actual truth came out which proved that none of the actions taken were correct. Those doing the judging were wrong! But the water had been spilled and had already seeped into the dry ground.
No one wins when judging of others occurs. Dale Carnegie was spot-on when he wrote: Never condemn, complain about or criticize another human being. You see, friend, it is not your place or job to do that. Only Creator God has that responsibility. Leave it for Him to do……He is more than capable and qualified to perform the duties.
Peace and love to all of you…..Poppa Bear