Common wisdom and beyond that very much my personal experience guides me to be measured in judgement and commentary and to seek understanding of the situation and circumstances. And even then, start out with questions rather than with statements. Today was a reminder to stick to that approach. During our stay at Jackson Hole, we were on the morning ski bus heading for the mountain. We were seated two or three rows from the front door. At the very next stop several people were waiting. The first person entering was a teenage boy. I watched him climb up the stairs slowly and noticed immediately that he had his hat pulled all the way over his eyes and nose. Probably somewhat driven by my eagerness to be on the slopes sooner rather than later the first thought shooting through my head was – sure with your eyes covered it will take even longer to get on the bus – how stupid and not the right time for a prank! (As kids we used to do this – here in the winter pulling each other’s hats down over the eyes and stumbling along blindfolded). But I did not say anything – not to him and not to my wife sitting next to me.
A few second later he reached the floor of the bus, and now I was able to see, that he was wearing a bright orange vest that stated, “Blind skier”. Wow – I bit my tong! And I was relieved that my impatience had not gotten the best of me. We saw him and his family multiple times during this and the next day on the mountain. He was also wearing ski googles over his pulled down hat (Appropriate, since it was very cold) and each time I saw his vest on the slopes I felt another jolt-like reminder to not being judgmental!