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  Judging Others
  by EUGENE LOH

  How many wrongs does it take to make obsolete a lifetime of rights? 
  The answer? 
  One. 

  This world is an unforgiving one. The only sins we can even begin to forgive
  are our own. It's only too easy to pass judgement when you are not the one
  on trial. We all gather eagerly at the execution... each with a rock in
  hand... thirsting for the moment when the signal to throw is given. 

  Overwhelmed by our own securities and sufferings, we hurl stones. We scream
  for blood. We withdraw our love. And conveniently forget the times when the
  "accused" has touched our lives in such positive ways. 
  It could be our spouse, our parent, our child, our sibling, a friend. When
  judging others, blood ties do not count. We would just as easily cast our
  own flesh and blood in to a sea of fire as we would the vilest of foes. 

  It certainly is easy to condemn, isn't it? To condemn someone for being of a
  certain colour, a certain lifestyle, a certain appearance, a certain
  nationality, a certain class, and so on. When we condemn others for being
  who they are, it is ourselves who are condemned. Condemned for embracing
  love when it is given, but who shun the one who gave it once he or she falls
  from "grace". 

  One doesn't have to have murdered a million Jews to be a Hitler. One only
  has to have a judgemental and unforgiving heart. 
  How many people have we sent to the gallows with our words? How many lives
  have we ruined with our arrogance and selfishness? Many people are under the
  illusion that they are fit to judge, to chastise, to blame, to hate. 

  But there is no one whose soul is unstained. Only our own stains are
  infinitely harder to see.