“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.” These words, written by English novelist Samuel Butler imply that we do not like to look deep within ourselves because we might not like what we see.

I’ve always believed that life itself is a mirror. We can’t help but see ourselves in others around us. We think, “I’m glad I’m not like her,” or “I would never do what he just did.” Perhaps we think, “I wish I could be more like them.”

There is also a rush to judgment when we disapprove of someone else’s behavior that flashes before us for a very brief moment. In the courtroom of life, we condemn without knowing cause. “Guilty!” we shout with consequences immediately and unfairly given.

American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about people who were rushed to judgment before they became revered icons of history. Nicolaus Copernicus, a 16th century astronomer, was ridiculed because his studies had placed the sun rather than the earth at the center of the universe. Although the Catholic pope praised the scientist’s theory, intellects from other faiths mocked him and basically called him a fool. In the courtroom of life, he was guilty of threatening the status quo and yet his theories about the planets became foundations of astronomy centuries later and our country honored him by naming one of our space missions, “Copernicus.”

Another icon of astronomy was Galileo. Religious authorities denounced his finding that the earth rotated around the sun. His revelation contradicted what was stated in the Bible. Galileo was put on trial and found guilty of heresy. He was forced to recant his theory and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

Christians believe that the most famous person to be rushed to judgment was Jesus Christ. His preaching disturbed both religious and Roman authorities. Deemed a threat to gain a growing legion of followers, Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Emerson said that what Copernicus, Galileo and Jesus had in common was that they had been misunderstood during the times they had lived.

We often don’t approve of people who disturb the status quo. Nonconformity is often thought of as rebellion. It’s human nature to turn our heads away from those who challenge authority.

We might judge a man with long hair and covered in tattoos to be guilty of not being a good role model for his children. What we don’t know is he reads bedtime stories to them every night. We look at the woman who is the church treasurer holding a Bible in hand and we think she is someone who would be innocent of any crime. What we don’t know is that she will be arrested for embezzling money from the Sunday collections. These are true stories that I personally know about. Here again, the judge and jury in the courtroom of life have rendered the wrong verdicts.

Author Anthony T. Hinks said, “Don’t look in the mirror when your ego looks back.” I worked under a high school principal who used his power to rule our staff by threatening consequences. Underneath his ego-driven power trip we all knew was a man who was insecure with his position and worried that some of his experienced staff knew more about how to run the school than he did. He didn’t want to see the flaws in himself. He was eventually judged to be professionally incompetent and was removed for a new principal.

When I was given the position of head baseball coach at a school in New Jersey, I remembered what an admired high school principal’s advice was to me. “You don’t know everything when you’re in position of authority. Rely on your staff to help you. They will feel empowered and you will all get the credit should you be successful.”

I knew I was going to be judged for my ability to coach. When I picked my staff, I didn’t want “Yes” people, those who nodded their heads to me when I decided on practice or game plans. I wanted good baseball minds and good character guys who cared about kids. We all had input to preparing the best team we could send on the field. We didn’t win a lot of games, but each player improved and at the end of the season, they told us how much they appreciated our coaching efforts and that they had fun playing the game they loved.

We are all put on trial for our behavior in the courtroom of life and we are rushed to judgment. I recall what Jesus said in John 8:7: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone ...”

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com