Hoping for a Judgement Free World.

Is it a pipe dream?  Am I fooling myself and being naive?  Why do we live in a world where people feel the need to put labels on each other and then make judgements based on those labels?  Since the historians started recording the happenings around them, we have learned that people have used labels for each other and then used those labels to persecute others. 

Labels are based on wealth, color, religion, political party. beliefs, histories or sexual preference, and too many more to list.  Then we make assumptions on someone based on that label.  If your poor, you are viewed one way, and if your rich, you are viewed another.  We hate and fight with others based on their religious beliefs especially if they are significantly different. 

You would have thought that the civil war, or the civil rights movement would have taught us that judging others based on a label was not an accurate way to view others.  North or South, Black or White, we are all still human beings walking this earth waking up every day, trying to make the most of what we have.  We all make mistakes, struggle to find our place in this world and laugh or cry when things happen.  We are no different whether we are old or young, rich or poor, or married or single. 

Am I always right?  Is the way I choose to live my life better than the way someone else lives theirs?  It is not my place to judge or tell them they are wrong.  I love to engage people and talk about our differences, learn why they do what they do and make the choices that they do.  In an open dialogue we both learn and can grow. I am not so arrogant that I think my ideas and opinions are the only ones.  I live my life learning and growing every day.  I do not assume that I have all the answers. 

So my question is, why do so many people find it necessary to stereotype?  They like or hate someone before they have even met them simply by a label that we have in our minds.  I would love to live in a world where people are treated by how they treat others and live their lives and not the religion they follow or previous choices they have made.  I make my choices by my own experiences with people, not from a label or what someone else tells me and because of that, I have many outstanding individuals as friends that I may never have met.  My life is richer having these people in my life.  Our common interests bring us together and our differences enrich our lives by sharing and teaching. 

Would I feel this way without my own history?  I was always one who wanted to make my one impressions of people, not believe rumor or what other people say.  But I do think my history has made me more aware of the labels and being less judgmental.  I have come to believe that it is not my place to judge how others live there lives but it is my responsibility to live my life the best way that I know how.  Doing that requires my full attention and a great amount of energy anyway.  My life is too short worrying about others, I would rather relish in the joy of my own.