65     JUDGE 

KEY CONCEPTS:  equity, legal matters, fairness, lenience, bigotry, justice, law, judgments, a judgmental person, excessive harshness, possibly the querent. (Corresponds to Justice)

MESSAGE:  Judgments are tricky.  The act of quantifying what we see begins at birth...but can a toddler competently assess a complex situation?  As babies, we show equal enthusiasm for chewing a lemon, a cookie...even a grasshopper, much to Mother’s dismay.  Reactions of friends and family influence our decisions, shaping our world view over time.  Is a cookie any better than a grasshopper?  They’re of equal value to Spirit.  If you choose the cookie every time, it affects your health down the line.  Vitamin content invigorates you more than flavor alone; taste is a personal perception.  Some cultures savor grub worms while finding cheese distasteful; others take opposing views.  Why worry about reactions from the gallery? 

On the Route, we suffer under gavel bangs of fellow travelers’ judgments.  Who gave them authority to sentence you?  What qualifications do they hold?  Different states enact conflicting laws; they enforce divergent penalties for breaking them.  Were those consequences arbitrarily chosen?  A punishment considered fair in one place is regarded as cruel and unusual in another. 

President Abraham Lincoln once lived in Springfield, IL, later incorporated into America’s Main Street.  He remains a hero to date for his role in the Civil War.  Never formally appointed as a judge in his legal career, he went on to select over 50 judges during his presidency.  Anyone may rise to a position of leadership: even when they lack experience, they’re not necessarily wrong for the job.  We all could arrive at greatness unexpectedly.

Travelers who fail to heed societal laws court trouble.  They might even wind up in front of this judge’s bench.  But guess what?  They might face him even if they never broke the law.  Is that justice?  Was the law fair in the first place?  How do you discern right from wrong?   Nothing is purely good or evil but thinking makes it so. 

Offer mercy and lenience to everyone who offends.  When you clench a razor-sharp blade, it cuts you; excessive harshness wounds the soul who harbors it.  The only righteous judgement occurs when we recognize Unity. Every soul has equal value to its Creator…and the only safe judgement is the one you never made.

RELATED SITES:   HISTORIC NAVAJO COUNTY COURTHOUSE AND MUSEUM, HOLBROOK AZ; POSTVILLE COURTHOUSE STATE HISTORIC SITE, LINCOLN, IL;  ABRAHAM LINCOLN-RELATED HISTORIC SITES, SPRINGFIELD IL; ROUTE 66 1903 COURTHOUSE MUSEUM, WAYNESVILLE, MO.