If you disapprove of anyone’s behavior nowadays, she or he will probably tell you something like this: “You can’t judge me!” They have bought a myth of our time that says that disapproval of someone’s behavior is judging them.

The falsehood here is that a person is not her behavior. Thus to criticize her behavior is a completely different thing than to judge her as a person.

We do this all the time in sports. If a person doesn’t stand correctly on the offensive line, a coach or a friend will tell him that he is not standing properly. No one considers that to be “judgment” but rather positive advice.

What is the difference if someone is engaging in self-destructive behaviors? If someone says to a friend; “Your sleeping around is not going to lead you to happiness in life,” why is that any different? Why is it mistakenly called judgment?

Part of our American freedom is the right to disapprove of other people’s behaviors. However, disapproval of their behaviors makes insecure people uncomfortable so they often sing out the modern myth; “Stop judging me.”

We all have the right to believe in morality. Just because someone chooses to frequently engage in a wrongful behavior doesn’t mean that other people have to approve of that behavior. For someone to say: “Either you approve of my behavior or you are judging me,” is a very arrogant and mistaken position.

Our present day myth says that to criticize someone’s wrongful behavior is to judge him. The truth is, however, if a person must demand the approval of others to avoid feeling judged, he is the one with the problem.

Southwest Airlines knows that cleavage and thighs mesmerize men’s eyes. They used sex to start their airline, dressing their stewardesses in hot pants. Now they appear to have gone conservative. A Southwest employee recently required a passenger to cover her cleavage and thighs.

That passenger, Kyla Ebbert, has gone on the NBC Today Show and The Doctor Phil Show to complain. This incident has created unfavorable news stories and internet chatter about Southwest.

Gary Kelley, Southwest Airlines CEO, said: “We don’t want to put our employees in the position of being fashion police, but there’s a fine line you walk sometimes in not offending other passengers.” Thank you Mr. Kelley! Why should I (or any customer) be subjected to body exposure designed to create sexual feelings?

I was recently waiting in a medical office when a young woman came in wearing a tiny top and no-legs (or should I say all-her-legs) shorts and sat right across from me. I was enjoying reading a book of quotations, but her openly displayed cleavage and thighs began to magnetize my eyes.

I began to fight the thoughts and feelings that this stranger was putting in my mind. (What right did she have to do that to me?) Every now and then my eyes would glance and I would pull them back into my book. I even turned and faced the wall beside me, but the magnetism was still pulling on me. After about five minutes I left the waiting room and sat in the hallway outside the office.

This woman disrupted my reading and drove me out of the waiting room. Is that fair? What if I had been buckled in the seat beside her on a 2 hour Southwest Airline flight?

I agree with the Southwest employee who made the woman cover up. People have no right to use their body to stir up sexual feelings in strangers.

Motivation Quotation: “Life would be dull and colorless but for the obstacles we have to overcome and the fights we have to win.” –Jawaharlal Nehru

Motivated Thoughts: Most people don’t want a boring life. They want some kind of excitement, challenge, or adventure.

Can you imagine playing a game with no opposition? For example, what if a base ball player got a home run every time he picked up a bat. It wouldn’t take long for both the player and his fans to get bored with that.

Or what if you had a video game and you got the high score every time you played it? It wouldn’t be long before you would say: “This game is too easy; I need something more challenging.”

Life is the same way. If it were not for struggles, difficulties, and obstacles life would be very dull. It is the battles we have to fight that motivate us and give our life meaning.

I have found that life is more fun if I view it like a sports competition. I have to continually study and train to improve myself so that I can be competitive against each day’s obstacles.

I play my life like a golfer playing a course. I want my daily drives to go far and be accurate. I want to avoid the traps, miss the hazards, and stay out of the rough. I want to hit the greens and to sink my puts. And I want to play my life better every day.

Playing golf (or any other sport) isn’t easy. In fact, it is very frustrating at times. So is life. But what a wonderful opportunity we have all been given — to play our days for all we are worth and to make life beautiful for ourselves and others.

Kevin Everett, a tight end for the Buffalo Bills, was severely injured in an NFL game on the second week of the season. A Tennessean headline read: “Injured player will face paralysis — Doctors make grim prognosis.”

On the Monday after the game, the team doctor, surgeon Andrew Cappuccino said: “I told Kevin the chances for a full neurological recovery were bleak, dismal.” He said the chances of Kevin ever walking again were slim at best.

After reading that sad news, people around the country prayed for Kevin and asked God to heal him. A day later a story in the Tennessean said: “Kevin Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills’ tight end would walk again — contrary to a grim prognosis given a day before.”

One of his doctors said: “It’s totally spectacular, totally unexpected.” Yes indeed! God did a miracle for Kevin.

Many who write and comment on the internet like to challenge the opinions of others. I also enjoy debating ideas with other people.

I notice that people on the internet, however, frequently go beyond challenging or criticizing a person’s opinions and begin to attack the person himself. The fallacy with that is that a person is not his or her opinions. No matter what beliefs a person holds, she or he is still a very valuable and important human being.

Nobody is “stupid” (or any other name for that matter) just because they don’t agree with me. Sometimes I don’t even agree with myself because I have an inward battle going on.

That’s because I frequently challenge my own opinions. I mean, just because I think or believe something, doesn’t make it true. We live in a culture where we are constantly being brain washed and manipulated. Thus our own opinions are sometimes unreliable.

Let me illustrate: To demonstrate the power of suggestion, a chemistry professor once held up and described a bottle labeled “Apple Blossom Perfume.” Then he opened the bottle and asked his class to raise their hand just as soon as they could smell the perfume. Within 15 seconds, just about all his students had lifted up a hand. The bottle contained only water.

Why not challenge some of your own opinions today? After all, the stinger of a bee is only about 1/32 of an inch long. The other foot and a half is opinion.