Judgment.
The evaluation of evidence used to make a decision.
We, as humans, make these assumptions
about everyone and everything we encounter every single day.
Judgment is what determines which path you take when you cross the road
or which food you pick up when you are at the supermarket.
Judgment can determine if you’re gonna sit next to that person on the bus
or if you gonna ask out that cute girl in your Spanish class.
Judgement can also sometimes be biased.
Sometimes we don’t even know that we’re doing this.
We may not ask our female friends to help us move
because we assume they are weak all because they are female.
Or we assume that our friend with glasses is smart
all because they can’t see right without glasses.
Or we might be scared to approach someone of a darker skin colour
if you’re of a lighter skin colour, like I am.
So a few years ago, my mum was having me help her make breakfast.
I was 10 years old, and I really liked bread.
So I was like, ‘I’ll make some toast for breakfast.’
So I cut a few slices off a loaf of bread, I put them onto a plate,
and then I put them right into the toaster.
Now, I see them getting to the colour that looks about what I like it at,
so I pull them out and I put them onto a plate.
And I hand it to my mum, and I kid you not,
she gives me the most disgusted, judgmental face I’ve ever seen in my life.
She looked at me and said: ‘What is that?’
I said, ‘Oh it’s the toast I made for breakfast.’
‘No, son, that is burnt!’
I was like, ‘What? That’s the way I like my toast!
It’s nice, crispy, it’s all good!’
So I asked myself after this: ‘Why do I love burnt toast?’
Today I am going to give you my reasoning as to why I love burnt toast.
Now, believe me when I say this little inanimate object
can teach us so much about ourselves and about each other.
It can teach us to be accepting, forgiving and give us approval for who we are.
Now, much like it, it may be bad for one person and be great to another.
Like, my mum, she hates it.
But I, honestly, I love it!
I think It’s the best thing ever! It’s the best thing for breakfast.
And this is much like our lives and ourselves.
Something that you may hate about yourself
could be the very thing someone loves about you.
I honestly hate my eye colour; it looks like cat pee.
But there are a lot of my friends who’d kill for it.
They say it looks amazing!
Also, it shows us that we need to accept each other for all our differences.
It shows us that we need to embrace each other no matter where our burns are.
There have been so many conflicts based on something people can’t control.
The Rwandan genocide, the massacre of Jews in the WWII,
the Crusades, the Civil War.
Or if that’s not recent enough for you,
how about the Texas church shooting that just happened a few days ago?
All these events happened based on hate and judgment of others.
Now, I can list dozens of other examples, but I think I want one point come across:
This needs to stop.
Now, this can also show us, how to be thankful and happy about our lives.
You may not always get the best piece of toast,
but like what my mum did,
sometimes you just have to smack some butter and jelly on it, and eat it anyway.
You may not get the prettiest face, the best grades,
the most followers on Instagram, the swollest bicep,
but, you know, you have to deal with it anyway.
You have to embrace who you are and embrace who others are.
So I have one task for all of you. Embrace yourself and embrace each other.
Don’t look at the negative in someone and look at the positive.
It takes more energy to hate than to love.
Thank you!
(Applause)
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