The lesson is to not make premature judgements. Three events in two days drilled this home to me. The first was when I was in the checkout line at Wal-Mart. Ahead of me a father and son were unloading a cart piled high with groceries onto the conveyor belt. When the basket of the cart was empty the father motioned for the son to move the cart up to the bagging area where he began loading sacks as the cashier filled them.

On the bottom rack of the cart were several large items. "Is he going to teach his son it's okay to steal, but not telling the cashier about those items?" I thought. As more and more sacks were loaded into the cart that appeared to be the man's intention. I was indignant. "No wonder this world is going to hell in a handbasket," I raged internally. "Even fathers are teaching their children to be dishonest when they can get away with it."

I debated about my own action. Should I confront the father? Should I point out the merchandise to the cashier? Should I wait and see what happens? The latter turned out to be the better option, for the father did tell the cashier about the goods and she came around wih her portable wand and rang them up. Lesson One.

Lesson two happened the next day when I saw a young man walking across a park in downtown Fort Worth. I watched him finish off a soda and throw the can down. Again, I fumed. "How could he have such a disregard for the park? Does no one care about littering?" and so on. As I approached the place where I expected to see the can on the ground I discovered a garbage can previously hidden from my sight by a wall. Of course, the soda can was in the garbage can.

Then came number three. I was eating lunch at Mexican Inn and noticed some police officers at a nearby table. A male and female officer sitting on one side of the table were in their forties, a younger cop sat across from them. The younger cop had an ear ring. A cop with an ear ring! Can you imagine? Is there no pride any more, no respect for the uniform, no dress codes or standards to reflect the professionalism of the badge? I could not believe things have deteriorated that much.

After my meal, I made a point to walk slowly by the table so I could get a good look at this cop with an ear ring. It was then I discovered he wasn't a cop at all. Just a young man, perhaps the son of the two officers he sat across from. He wore a navy blue long sleeve shirt that was a very close match for the uniform colors. Below the shirt was a pair of khaki shorts.

I repeated the lessson to myself several times. I'm even writing it in this blog to hold myself responsible. Don't make snap judgements!