One of the indiscretions of which we all may be guilty at times is making a judgment without being informed.

Sometimes we may feel hurt or insulted if a person seems to ignore us in a particular situation. However, if we knew his preoccupation with some personal problem or difficulty, we would be much kinder in our feelings.

Sometimes, handicaps in a person’s life are obvious, but often times they are invisible — although just as real.

One day a man was late getting to work. As he walked through the door, his supervisor immediately launched into a tirade against him for being tardy. The supervisor did not give the employee a chance to explain anything.

Later he discovered the man was late because he had stopped to assist the supervisor’s own wife who had been involved in a traffic accident.

Our nation’s justice system sometimes seems slow and ponderous, but it operates on the basis of presumed innocence. A man is innocent until proven guilty.

All the evidence must be taken into consideration before a verdict can be rendered. We think the system protects criminals; but, in reality, it protects you and me. All of us should be so careful in reaching a verdict in any given situation. Uninformed judgments can produce malicious gossip and blatant lies.

Perhaps, Jesus’ principle so eloquently stated in the Sermon on the Mount is the key: “Therefore all things, whatsoever ye would, that men should do to you, do ye even so to them . . .”