Judge not? Or Speak Up?

I've had a few experiences over the last few days that make me wonder when I should stop "not judging" others and tell them they're freakin crazy.

Now, I am in no danger of ever being accused of being timid; I speak up for myself, I call a spade a spade (or as my darling Mother once said while listening to my sister and I bitch about a home-wrecking acquaintance, I'm known to call a spade a whore), but I have been on a whole jag lately about not judging other people's decisions. This shift came about in force when I had GG, and became sick to death of poh-faced bitches smugly patting each other on the back or stabbing each other in the same region, based purely on whether they used cloth nappies or disposable, breast fed or bottle fed, you get the drift. I decided that we women need to band together and stop judging each other over the decisions we make in our lives. For more ranting on this, see here.

Lately however, I'm beginning to wonder if my decision to stop telling people exactly what they are doing wrong in their lives has directly contributed to the collapse of civilisation as a whole. I'm certainly not going to turn into one of those poh-faced bitches, but maybe there are certain things that it's our duty to speak up about and say "Hey! This is not okay, WTF are you thinking?". I've known people who smoked during their pregnancy, I heard someone talk about how their cute little kitty-cat sleeps in the cot with their baby, you might remember this post about an 8 year old terrorising his sister while driving a ride-on lawnmower, and I've overheard Mums in parents rooms discussing some pretty shocking tactics to get babies to stop crying at night... like leave them in their vomit-soaked cot til morning, they'll get the picture eventually.

In my better moments, I like to think we are all citizens of a global village, sharing and caring, with a responsibility to all earth's children, la la la, granola, organic cotton, free trade, save the world. Maybe there are certain things we are supposed to speak up about, maybe if enough people speak up about them, there will be a stigma attached to them and people might stop doing it. Or maybe I'll get my head smacked in by some scrubber blowing smoke in her baby's face while bitching her Baby Daddy spent her beer money on dope.

You know what though? Bring it on. Next time I see someone doing something that is not just a benign lifestyle or parenting decision, but dangerous or stupid, you better believe I'm gunna be that loudmouth bitch telling you exactly what kind of fool you are. Maybe, just once, I might talk someone out of their ignorance and into a better decision.

Better brush up on my jiu-jutisu just in case though.