In his Moccasins

"Do not judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." I love that quote. Aside from the reference to moccasins, comfortable, safe, and from home, I love the feeling that I get when I say it. "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins." It doesn't say to judge him less harshly. It says not to judge him. You don't know about him, about his life; and once you put yourself in his place, you'll probably figure out that you don't want to judge him. He's too important for that. You'll probably figure out that every person is. Don't judge him. Just don't do it. That's my favorite part of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout is standing on Boo Radley's steps at the end, watching the street from where he must have seen it for all of those years, and realizing that she didn't know anything about him. How could she possibly be scared of him? He'd watched her; he'd saved her life. How could she possibly not try to see through his eyes. In the book Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, Salamenca spends a summer with her grandparents, going across country to visit her mother. Cross country! Of course it would be a great book. But she learns and experiences, and grows, so much along the way. She sees why her mother left them, why her friend Phoebe acts the way she does, why her father clings to Mrs. Cadaver. And she understands. Back to the roots, and back to the tree. Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins. And then you'll realize that you don't have to judge him at all.