There I was. In front of the Central high school. Otis was trying his best to shove and bury me in a snow pile.

From the outside it looked as if big bully was abusing the runty kid. Someone should have done something.  All I remember was laughter. No one intervened.

It wasn’t what it appeared to be though. It wasn’t bullying.  Otis was my best friend and indeed was twice my size. Though at times I think I was more his toy than his friend, which explained why he was so curious to see if he could actually bury me in the snow bank. Kind of like seeing if you could pull the arms off Stretch Arm Strong, which he may have tried at sometime as well.

But from the outside it probably looked pretty abusive. I am sure people were thinking, what a jerk. I suppose a lot of things are not what they seem. So often from the outside we think we know what’s what, but we don’t. Nor would it be reasonable that we would know. We put what pieces we have together and see if we can make out the picture. Then our mind fills in the blanks.

Unfortunately our minds fill in the blanks based on who we are and what we know. Not based on what is.

Perhaps it’s unavoidable. A survival thing. Need to fill in the picture well enough to know whether you should run or not.

I suppose that’s where judging come from. It’s both good and bad, which is why we caution ourselves to withhold judgment, especially snap judgments. We try to be like Mr. Spock and withhold assessment when there is not enough data.

But sometimes we need to judge so we can act. Being completely nonjudgmental may lead to depraved indifference. That doesn’t sound good either.

So maybe it’s a question of when and why. To understand the appropriate necessity to judge and act.

I forget the point I was trying to make here. Oh well, don’t judge me for that. Be calm and carry on.