On being judgemetal and opinionated
"Judge not and be judged not"
My mother is ALWAYS telling me this because I'm damn quick at passing judgements and forming opinions about many things.

My mind is literally like a thought factory and there is SO much in there. It would probably burst if I do not form opinions, categorise and place things in seperate compartments. But my mother and many of my friends are of the opinion that I should not be like that.
"Why do you have to think so much? Why is it that you have an opinion on most things under the sun?". These questions come my way quite often.
I usually reply:
You know Martin Luther King said that if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.

Besides, in all honesty I generally refrain from negative opinions about others without knowing their person. I'm not a judge-at-first-glance kinda person or for that matter, judge-based-on-what-you-hear. The only exception are people I do not and cannot know and thus like to think of them only via subjective judgements. Otherwise, unless the person in my vicinity is incredibly interesting and totally different I would not bother with opinions and if I do..I try and keep it positive or atleast nuetral. Negative opinions I realize can wreck havoc and damage relationships that may have even a little bit of scope.

But thats for me, I know many people who are extremely opinionated. Sometimes they have the wrong opinions and worst of all take these as facts. Now thats where I guess being opinionated harbours on objection. If you're opinionated, understand that you are. Don't confuse your opinion with a fact. As a literature student and during the course of my newswriting module, I learnt to value this significant difference, both while speaking and writing. It can mislead both you as well as the others who may be attending to you.

I guess every one is opinionated to some extent and for some things. Some people like to pass judgements on other people's style quotient (I would probably score a measly score and if possible would make it on Blackwells worst dressed list..hahaha), others on who's in and who out, who is bright and who is a dudder...etc etc. But as long as our opinions aren't causing a wreckage in ours or the lives of others...there is nothing wrong. I guess.

I'll leave you with this really funny judgement an acquaintance once made on people of different nationalities:
Indians talk too much, Britishers drink too much, Americans are too arrogant, Chinese are too greedy, Germans are too stiff, Italians are too loose. Gosh! she made me laugh out loud while narrating her experiences abroad that led to these juicy comments. But I hope she changed her mind after meeting me-an Indian who hopefully doesn't fit that typecast (I was only listening to her for an hour...almost) and ofcourse her boyfriend...who is British =).
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