In Rob Cherville’s ‘Breaking Chains’, Lizzie, seeking to escape from her life of abuse and prostitution, describes her reaction to being called ‘a prostitute’:
‘The word was a label that conveyed so much more than just the way I had earned my living. It was as though it defined my whole being; everything about me from personality, through belief system to lifestyle. It confined me within a particular mould, denying any possibility of change. It established my place within the social order, and sought to ensure that I stay there.’
…What sort of people do I imagine prostitutes to be?
My friend Steve, a Geordie from North-East England, left school and became a coalminer. Steve, who now lives in Suffolk, was visiting Peter who’d been a fisherman. ‘While you were fishing the North Sea, I was underneath you digging out coal,’ joked Steve. Steve’s nothing like my picture of a stereotypical coalminer; Lowestoft fishermen I know don’t fit into any fisherman-mould.
Yesterday, Georgie, a local girl who’s studying pharmacology at university, was telling me about her work placement, her interest in musical theatre, her enjoyment of working with children. Georgie’s an individual, a young scientist that doesn’t fit into any predetermined pattern.
Yesterday’s news reported on ninety-year-old Nando di Matteo, Britain’s oldest rugby referee, who last night officiated his last game of nearly 2,700! I imagined him to be a big extrovert. Nando was interviewed on TV. He was nothing like the picture I’d created.
Next to Nando’s newspaper story is an article that starts, ‘A shoplifter stole a whole stand of Cadbury Crème Eggs from a petrol station during a five-week thieving spree…’ I immediately formed an opinion about him…
Musing… my prejudices and speedy willingness to pre-judge prostitutes, coalminers, fishermen, young people, rugby referees thieves…
‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.’ – James 1:19
‘Be slow to judge, for we know little of what has been done, and nothing about what has been resisted.’ – Rudyard Kipling.
malcolmsmusings.org 
Unoffendable by Brant Hansen has been so useful to help me notice how easily I judge. My review of the book: You can choose to be “unoffendable.” What an awesome idea. “When you start practicing it, you realize choosing to be unoffendable means actually for real, trusting God.” Forgiveness is a key, the resource. “We forgive as an act of worship.” Awesome theology.
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Choosing to be unoffendable is huge. Thanks for that, Joy
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