Go Ahead, Judge that S***

I hesitate to write this post because while it’s not necessarily controversial, it is judgey. I like that word, judgey. Being a high school student, I sometimes feel like my whole life revolves around judging. I am judged, you are judged, I judge, and you judge; pretending to not in my opinion is just a lie. Judging is an inevitable part of growing up (and let’s be honest, life in general)--and while judging is usually construed in a bad way, like in an,  “Oh, is she judging me?” way, I would like to think that generally it’s is more about finding your way in the world.

Let me explain. Everyone around you has a different way of being; different style; different interests; different goals..the list goes on. And throughout your whole life (although maybe especially in high school), you are trying to find and change and reevaluate your own way of being in the world. So to judge someone, to me, really means more to see someone and their way of being, and compare it to your own. You decide if you like the things that the people around you do, or wear, or [insert verb here] or perhaps dislike those things--and so judging is really a subconscious way for everyone to constantly reevaluate their way of being.

Judging is often misconstrued with hating, but for example, I judge when I walk down the hallway and see a skirt that someone is wearing that I like. And by that same token, I judge when I see someones shirt and dislike it. To be an effective “judger” in this world, it’s important to realize that your judgements may be wrong, and should change with time, and on that note, I’m going to do some judging myself--I’m going to be judgey.

Shoes. Shoes may or may not say a lot about the wearer. I’m inclined to go with the may not half, they don’t really say anything about the wearer--yet in our society, each shoe carries around a lot of judgement baggage. The baggage is not bad or good, it just is. Shoes place their wearers into stereotypes. And so when passing a stranger on the street--one way i “judge” them is by their shoes (with the full awareness that my judgement is probably wrong). The other day a friend and I were walking to Kenney. We had just come out of Seibol when we saw a guy--he appeared the typical, run-of-the-mill U of I student, jeans, a t-shirt, maybe a hoodie but I can’t remember, decently attractive by conventional standards, nothing out of the ordinary. But then in my quick passing-by scan, I got to his feet; he was sporting bright red chocos. For those of you who don’t know what Chocos are, they’re kind of like a ultra-outdoorsy sandal, good for any kind of outdoor activity that doesn’t require sneakers. But they're also simple, and in my opinion, look both athletic and “cute”.

The typical college student at the U of I however, doesn’t wear chocos. So I saw the guys shoes, and judged. Automatically I gave him more thought than I would a regular passerby--I liked the shoes--and frankly it made me more interested in him. He seemed like more of an alternative type, not the typical student. So blah, blah, blah, he walked past--and normally I wouldn’t have given that very brief passing encounter a second thought. But after my friend and I had passed, she turned to me and said, “Did you see his shoes?” And then something like, “he seemed kind of cool.” I started laughing because her judgement of him based on his shoes was exactly the same as mine. We thought that the guys shoes were a positive thing, but to someone else--they could be equally as negative. So I don’t really have a point here, but my Grandmother’s mother used to say, “that’s what makes horse races” meaning that if everyone judged the same way, then everyone would bet on the same horse. And, what fun would there be in that?