Learning not to judge is much more difficult than it sounds

"If I am being completely honest, I am one of the most judgmental people that I know. At times, it can be a real pain in the ass. I would say that most of the judgments that I create are born from a place of  straight up, good-old-fashioned ignorance." 

"I'm pretty uneducated. I know a lot about a select couple of subjects and that's it. The majority of my collective knowledge is completely useless. I have found very few situations in which my brain-tricks are found to be valuable."

The entirety of the last two paragraphs are perfect examples of how difficult it can be to discuss oneself without drowning our self confidence in a toxic bath of misplaced modesty. Both of those statements have left my mouth in the last couple of months intentionally, without humor. There is a distinction between being modest, and being self-defeating. There is an argument to be made in the case of modesty. However, there is no excuse for cutting yourself short.

Oddly enough, modesty is a concept a have spent a lot of time pondering.

Modesty (derived from the Latin root modestus which means "keeping within measure",^[1]) and demureness is a mode of dress and behavior which is intended to avoid the encouragement of sexual attraction in others. 

Because there are so many cultural factors at play in the development of customs of modesty, it would be difficult to list the doctrines of each society that would fall under the category of 'modesty'. Suffice it to say, that demureness is something the world finds valuable in one respect or another. 

However, It's my firm opinion that a concept such as this (as with most things) can be warped into a tool for social manipulation and control. By establishing a social hierarchy which is founded on certain principles and practices (i.e. modesty) you may begin to see a polarization occurring. People may agree with the newly established social construct or they may not. Some may flounder in the middle (seemingly not giving a flip about anything). 

Those who applaud the construct, are presented with a very tall, very slippery ladder. They are also presented with the strong expectation that they will spend the entirety of their lives climbing it. A ladder that tall is bound to tip over. Unless it can be stabilized by those of us down at the bottom. It's a difficult place to live without being crushed by those bigger than you. 

Just the simple act of not climbing almost makes the risk of being squished worth while. 

When the people around begin to climb this brand-new, bright and shiny social ladder, they begin making sacrifices; cutting away pounds of flesh as both sacrificial offering and "load-lightener" all in the sake of the climb, and the subsequent power that comes with reaching the summit. The cost of victory is high, but people pay it every single day. 

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't intend to live my life like that. 

I don't intend to build a life around myself that amounts to one giant judgment statement about my worth as a human being! You are not what you do for a living or in even in public (unless it's indecent exposure... in which case... STOP IT!!). 

You ARE, however, what you do for YOURSELF.

1. [1] Jennett, Sheila. The Oxford companion to the body. Eds. Colin Blakemore, and Sheila Jennett. Vol. 7. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001ump up