Readings from Bishop THOMAS

Who Are You by Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky
from The Word, October 1968

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”  (Matthew 7:1-2)

It’s interesting the way a person is evaluated; the method changes from one generation to another. Notice, for example, when you are introduced to somebody, how your new acquaintance goes about learning more about you.

The older generation, those more than sixty years of age, always ask about your origin. Where were you born? Where did your parents and grandparents come from? Apparently from learning what city or village in Europe your ancestors originated, they feel able to know you better and to understand your behavior, personality, likes and dislikes.

To anyone less than sixty, origin and nationality are not so important. ‘They ask, “What do you do?” They evaluate a person by his occupation. To simplify, they judge the status of a man by his income bracket. We hear, “He’s a $7,000 a year man.”

To assist that type of character analysis, maybe we should leave the price tags on the sleeves of our suits and dresses, and on the left rear window of our automobiles. What really does this say about a person? After all nothing essentially changes in the man who moves from 137th Street to “Worstershire Regal Estates.”