Poetic Justice – a legal sentence written in rhyming verse?
It occurs to me that we humans have this bizarre ability to take any person, place, or event and turn it around in our minds until it fits into our personal script of how things should and shouldn’t be. We judge. We judge just about everyone and everything. We judge that it’s good to judge. We judge that judging is a necessary part of survival. Yet the directions on the box specifically say, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Is there no justice?
I used to think this message meant that if I judge someone harshly, I, too, will be judged harshly by someone. Somewhere along the line, that changed to if I judge someone harshly, then I will be judged harshly by the Big Kahuna. Once again, it has morphed—this time into if I judge someone, it’s likely I’m judgmental and am just as likely to judge myself harshly, creating more karmic crap in my life to deal with than might otherwise exist. Perhaps there is justice, after all.
So, I began shifting from judging to “assessing”—assessing this or that person, assessing the situation, assessing my surroundings, assessing my assessing, etc. I have discovered there are asses among the assessors, as well.
Recently, I’ve given up on judging and assessing. Instead, I’ve moved on to reflecting. Since I’m always reflecting others to themselves and they are always reflecting me back to me, it seems more practical to focus on what’s more factual.
I can study my reflections in order to become the master of the mirror. As I observe what you are reflecting back to me about me, I can learn something new about myself – OR – find myself assessing what it all means and then judging what I have assessed it all to mean. I must choose.
If I had a clue to where this was all leading, I could reflect on whether or not to post this for the world to judge. As I have no clue, because I’ve not yet completed my mission to become non-judgmental, I will share my most recent musing for your assessment. Perhaps it will reflect something for you . . .
REFLECTION OF A REFLECTION
Though we are not yet filled, we are not hollow,
We are both dusk and dawn, which one we follow
Tells us everything about our condition,
For which came first – that burst of light or darkness swallow,
The morning birds’ song or evening gallow?
We might never know a thing of this, or look both in the eye
And have a sigh that we are so shallow
That we think one thing exists without the other,
Who was their mother, gave them birth as twins?
She could not forfeit either, yet she has neither,
The womb of life cycling through its filling,
Cycling through its spilling,
The only question is just how willing we dare go on
When dusk and dawn, both, fade to gone.
I thought it chilling . . .
Sweete Quote: “Rambling is good for the soul, except during a traffic stop.”
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© Jennifer Sweete, February 2019
Any typos found in this document are caused by sleep deprivation. The author pleads insanity.
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Books I am reading this season:
The Misfit’s Manifesto by Lidia Yuknavitch – Taking a while to get through . . .
Navajo Whisper by Carol Bellhouse – Just starting. Review to come.
Pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini – Deep psych! Lovin’ it!
Write Like the Masters by William Cane – Every writer should read this book three times. (Still reading and taking copious notes!)
Until we meet again, keep reading, keep writing, keep dreaming!