"My Brother Is Not A Book"

A former beauty queen publicly defended her accused politician brother by saying: "Don't judge my brother. He is not a book!" (obviously alluding to the expression "Don't judge a book by its cover.")

Since that time as a celebrity, other statements she made involving grammatical errors and incorrectly quoted idiomatic expressions and other funny sayings attributed to her elicited laughter and delight among viewers. Some poked fun at her unintended mistakes and they were compiled as "__isms."

Today, the former beauty queen's beauty has faded a little, but she has gone on to become a more successful movie and TV actress, personality coach, and celebrity endorser.

Her most famous quote: "Don't judge my brother. He is not a book," though funny, rings true.

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. (Matthew 7:1-2)

When I was in high school, the valedictorian of the class' graduation piece was about gossip. Even at that time and place, gossiping was a pastime of people who did not have much to do when they gathered. It is probably a universal sickness. People talk behind other people's backs only when they are negative comments, or unfounded criticisms. If they were positive, they would either be hesitant or unwilling to tell the person face to face. 

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:21) and "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless." (James 1:26)

Judging others. Gossiping about others. These are two faces of the same coin.

I should not judge others ... because I am not a judge. 😎 I should not gossip about others ... because gossips, by definition, are untrue, and thus lacking in charity. They both imply cowardice, or false superiority, or even hidden arrogance or envy. They do not build but destroy.

Relative to these, our model is supposed to be our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is Truth Incarnate, Who guides us as our Way, and Who is Life Himself, and offers us eternal life.

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must follow Him.

In a way, the beauty queen  made sense:  "My brother is not a book."

And I am not a judge. 

Only God is, and He will judge us . . . each one of us . . . on the Final Judgement Day! #