Don’t Judge Others

“Don’t judge others…” (said by Jesus)

On Sunday our family went to the Melbourne Royal Show. We took our grandkids, and they brought along the kid from next door.

The weather was wonderful, the food was frightfully expensive, the farm animals were ridiculously cute and yes, they smelled just as farm animals should. It was a wonderful day that our family was blessed to share with one another.

Towards the end of the day, we had just enough ticket-credit for one more ride. Our grandkids saw the Teacup Ride and decided that was the ride for them. They lined up gleefully, I wasn’t so sure.

I wasn’t so sure because I was looking not at the ride but at the ride operator.

Interestingly, operating the ride intended for the youngest, sweetest of children, was the meanest, toughest looking dude you can imagine. He was a real ‘hard-bitten’ type. Skinny and stringy but strong. Tough and tattooed and tanned. His face said ‘hard times’, and his smile was more gaps than teeth. His smile was a dental nurse’s nightmare.

Nevertheless, Jesus clearly says that we shouldn’t judge other people, and another saying is that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… and here’s why.

Once the kids were sitting in their giant teacups, the tough-looking operator kindly checked that each one was ready before he pushed the green start button. Off the teacups went, circling around on their central axis, and when the ride started working, that broken-toothed smile really expanded. It became clear that this mean-looking guy LOVED this part of his job! And as each teacup came around to where he stood, his grin became wider and wilder, and he shouted to the riders in each teacup: “Want me to spin ya? Want me to spin ya?”

They each shouted back that yes, they did want a spin. So, with those gnarled-knuckle hands he would grab the edge of their teacup and whisk it around on its own axis so that the riders had a double-spin. Teacup after teacup spinning as it was spinning, and his Collingwood cheer-squad smile kept getting wider.

I felt rather humbled; I had been quick to judge this guy by his tough appearance. He was a mean-looking guy and yet he was madly motivated by making children happy. Clearly his greatest joy in life was making these kids laugh outrageously. He wanted every child to have a great time on his teacup ride. His job wasn’t a job it was a joy.

I no longer want to judge this guy; I want to learn from him. I guess we can all learn from this guy.

Parents and staff, throughout our school community, let’s love life, let’s be joyful. Let’s do simplicity the way little children do simplicity. And most of all let’s love and protect kids and their beautiful innocence.

DAVID GLEESON, PRINCIPAL