My ‘Judgey’ Thanksgiving

I used to point fingers.
I would scoff and some people.
I judged them.
Criticized them…
until last night.

I joined them.
spent money.
wandered not one, but TWO crowded stores.
Actually stood in line…outside…in freezing temperatures
But…
at the same time, I found commonality.
I found a crowded, yet civil kind of people…I was shocked.

I must admit that I was a hypocrite…before this experience.
I was not among a bunch of crazed shoppers…I was NOT a crazed shopper either.
I was surrounded amongst families who couldn’t afford much and THIS day had the best deals.
I was surrounded my Moms and Dads and kids doing their Christmas shopping.
This wasn’t destroying “family” time.
This wasn’t some sort of desecration of a holiday that some have said it to be.

For me, it was a kind of social experiment.
For me, I came away surprised.
I had stood shoulder to shoulder with other people and had not experienced the greed, the craziness, the insanity…
I’m not saying it doesn’t exist somewhere.
I’m not saying there aren’t “crazies” out there…but they weren’t in the store with me last night.

One thing I discovered…
We still preemptively judge people, at least I did.
I’m sure that I’m not the only one.
If my judgement of others exists, then other kinds of judgments still exist too.
Perhaps I learned something last night.
Perhaps we could all learn something from these kinds of social situations.
I don’t know.
But perhaps I won’t be so quick to judge other people again.