I was recently sitting in a cafe when the conversation of two women, drifted over to me. Not really trying to eavesdrop, I nonetheless found myself drawn to and a tad infuriated by the topic they were expounding upon. These two were expressing the view that anyone overweight must be a complete, brainless moron and how disheartening it was that there were now so many such beings in existance. As I am overweight, it not only caused me a smidge of indignation, but also had the effect to give me pause for thought. Too often, we pass judgement on perfect strangers and have no clue or idea as to how or why they have gotten to a certain point in their life. I have always held the view that it is rather lowbrow to lump together a group of people and sit in utter condemnation of them and that no one has the right to berate the intellegence and value of another human being based solely on some physicality. Please don't mistake me in thinking that I am trying to excuse the rising obesity problem in our society, but rather think of this as a reminder of the equality of man. I have many times been on the receiving end of other's uneducated and critical assessments and it has never failed to leave me with a sense of dejection and self-doubt. That being said, however, I have always believed myself to be a fairly intellegent person with much to offer and have come to hold the belief that each individual has the potential to be a force for the edification of mankind. I do my best to meet each person with an open heart and mind and find it distasteful and ignorant to pass any kind of judgement without the opportunity of knowing someone better. My view is that we are all human beings, we all have our own unique idiosyncrasies and faults, and with such being the case who are we to sit in judgement?! I challenge you so that the next time you find yourself ready to pass judgement on a perfect stranger, stop and remind yourself that they are your fellow man and that there is more to them than meets the eye. Remember that everyone has their own backstory and that you too have issues you would not want to be judged on. I guess it all comes back to the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!