Judgement day

I'm shameless. I judge people all the time...every single person I meet I put into a box. But don't be scurred though...listen.

I'm incredibly open-minded, very tolerant of other people and their beliefs and practices even when they don't match mine - 'cause where's the beauty in a one-coloured rainbow? I was lucky enough to go to  schools which had a diverse group of people, different nationalities, different religions, different sexual preferences, you get my drift. Rather than allow myself to be intimidated by the unfamiliar I wanted to learn about it, digest it and store it somewhere for future reference. I'm so grateful to the pre-teen me who had this non-judgemental attitude which carried over to the post-teen me.

Sadly I am now a hectic judge of character, but I don't judge people based on the things mentioned above. I shamelessly judge people on how they engage my mind.
Do you stimulate my mind?
Is conversing with you beneficial to my mental growth?
What can you teach me that I don't already know?
Can you make me laugh?
Will I think about what you said after I'm gone?
It seems like an easy enough list to conquer but I'm shocked at how many people have very little going on in between the ears.

I had a conversation with my dad once and we were driving by a mosque and,
Him: "Look at these Indians on top of all these shops they've opened up now they have a church here"
Me: Don't they need to worship too?
Him: Well yes but they're taking over Manzini look
He drives into a street where there's a great number of Indian owned shops 
Me: Daddy I still don't get your point so they open up a few shops and they open a church to worship in how does that bother Mr Tshabalala sitting in the comfort of his home all the way in Big Bend?
Him: There's a problem with them taking opportunities that Swazi's should have first choice of.
Me: I'm so glad we're not in the same age group 'cause I don't think I'd like you much. You're judging them for being pro-active and defending Swazi honour for what?

My poor dad I ended up blaming his views on age, he laughed it off and called me naive. We agreed to disagree and shook on it.

You open up a shop and you worship your version of God. Okay. You open up a shop, I come into your shop to sample your wares and the experience leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth because there's no concept of customer care. Not okay.

Engage my mind, make me want an encore. On that basis and on that basis alone do I judge you.

Enlightened

I'm working as a secretary at this engineering consultancy company and I am having a serious problem. I work with a good group of people, except for this one poor misguided soul who thinks because I work as a secretary that is all I am. I'm sure he'd be crushed if he heard that I'm a graduate.

My problem with this man is not so much how he treats me but his narrow-mindedness. He judges people by their stations in life, a whole grown man, someones WHOLE father is going to pass on that superiority complex onto his children. It's tragic to watch how he deals with the people he perceives to be beneath him, it's also very enlightening.

One of my virtues is tolerance of other people, be it sexual orientation, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), race, gender you name it. I'm too educated to be judgemental, I need more than the colour of your skin, the level of your job or the name of your God to make a complete perusal of someone.

What today made me realise though is that my mind works very differently to other minds...not better, not worse, just different.