Ph METER

By Christine Jayakaran

Ever looked at someone else at work or on social media and thought smugly to yourself 'Ha! Glad I'm not like them!' or 'What were they thinking when they picked that outfit up??' or 'Sheesh, how full of themselves could they possibly be?!!'

If you aren't weird like that you don't have to read the rest of this blog (seriously!! You're an awesome human! )

I, sadly enough, noticed just recently that I had developed mental labels for certain people who I knew and didn't know that well (thanks for that social media) and it was making me rather stuffy and narrow minded. I didn't like who I was becoming with all the mental finger pointing and the prejudicial thoughts bouncing around. Did I act differently because of it? Well not exactly but it was affecting the way I looked at people. I felt like I was constantly wearing darkened lenses. My impressions and expectations of people were starting to feel clouded and very biased and I knew it would inevitably cause me to build a wall around me which very few people could pass through. That worried me.

Until.....

Until I read this poignant parable of Jesus where he talks of two different men standing in the temple praying. One was a lowly, despised tax collector who beat his chest in repentance and could barely lift his eyes up all the while asking God to have mercy on a sinner like him. The other was a highly educated 'religious leader' of the Pharisian sect. He and his buddies were often caught up in legalistic arguments, fault finding missions and generally looked down on everyone outside of their circle. Pharisees!! Hmph!! They were a mouthful, earful and awful. This particular Pharisee stood in the temple confidently looking up to heaven and pompously thanking God that he was nothing like the tax collector! Say what?? How could he be that brazen and have that high an idea of himself right?? Well, hee hee, I realised with dismay that I was no different than that self proclaimed high and mighty Pharisee (Ph).

My judgement of others based on their social media profiles or their behaviour in person without knowing their story or their circumstances made me one unfortunately. I now am working on taking those PH - lens off!

I cannot afford to waste my time and energy on living life looking down my nose at others or looking through people with my tinted and obnoxious coloured lens.