About 12 years ago when I started to work in construction I had my first fieldwork leading a workgroup, I remember that day as if it was yesterday. The one who was my boss at the time introduced me to the guys I would have to work with, the truth is that the physical aspect and the way they were dressed impacted me and even scared me, I say this with sincerity, I introduced myself to the one who would be the master-builder in that project, a young man of color, dressed in wide clothes like those used by rappers, and with a big scar on his face, That week I was working very uncomfortable, not knowing that group of guys made me feel that way, I didn't let go of my belongings for a moment and I remember that I even changed my cell phone during those days because I thought they might steal it.

As time went by and I got to know these boys, I realized that they were good people, that they had grown up and lived all their lives in a neighborhood, and life had accustomed them to expressing themselves as many criminals do, because to tell the truth they were surrounded by them. The truth is that they were an excellent work team and I was constantly having to do work with them, which made me establish a bond of friendship with Geovanni the boy with the scar on his face. Years later in another construction site, one of the workers asked him in a lunch we had, what had happened to his face, had it been a fight or something like that? I had never dared to ask, but it was certainly something I was very curious about, so I took the opportunity to encourage him to tell us what had happened.

When he was just 2 years old, his father was a mechanic and repaired cars in the garage of his house, he played between those cars and one day without his father realizing it Geovanni was playing between two cars when without knowing they started one of them and it rolled backward, leaving his head pressed between the two cars, he was immediately taken to the hospital where they realized that he had had a skull fracture and they had to operate him in an emergency because of that, everyone was astonished, including me, because nobody expected that, at the time I felt so bad for having thought so many horrible things about him, because of the people I have known in my life he has been one of the noblest and is unable to take something without permission or hurt someone, in fact when I was traveling around the country working he always took care of me, today he tells everyone that I am like a little sister to him.

In another play I remember that I was introduced to a new mason, we needed personnel and he looked very well recommended by another mason who had years working with us, he was a very serious and educated man, always with a Bible under his arm, I remember that he sat down to read the Bible whenever he finished eating, as well as I remember that every time I said some insult he got very upset and said that God did not like rude people, I just ignored him, deep down he was not someone I could trust. One day we were called to work inside a military fort, there was some maintenance work to be done there, for which we were asked for a detailed list of personnel before going there to work, this list was sent and we were given carte blanche to work.

I was only there for a couple of days because I had to go to another city to supervise the work, so they stayed with another supervisor, and as a master builder, there was this man who preached the word. After a couple of weeks, I was called from the office asking me to go to the military fort because there were some irregularities, when I arrived they were taking that man in handcuffs, my impression was not long, I was really amazed, immediately find someone to explain what was happening. That man was requested by the authorities because he was accused of three murders. I was left like the wolf in the comic strips with his jaw practically on the floor of my astonishment.

In the first story, I judged Geovanni by the look of his face and by his clothes, and I thought he was a criminal, and in the second, although I didn't like that man, I thought he was a good person because he always had the Bible with him and his education and good habits were something else. I made judgments against these people without really knowing them, without observing their behavior in-depth, so for me here is where the difference lies between judgment and observation. Observation is what we can see with the naked eye, the details that we can see of people, facts, or things, and judgment is what we think of them. We judge based on what we observe, even if it is not always the best, but our mind does so almost automatically.

_{Pictures of my property, taken with the camera of my Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S phone and edited with Snapseed and Canva .}

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, if you have any questions, criticisms or suggestions, I would appreciate it if you left them in the comment box, and remember, you can make magic wherever you go!

[ES]

Hace unos 12 años cuando comencé a trabajar en la construcción me toco mi primer trabajo de campo dirigiendo un grupo de trabajo, recuerdo ese día como si fuera ayer. El que era mi jefe en ese entonces, me presento a los muchachos con los que me tocaría trabajar, la verdad es que el aspecto físico y la forma en la que vestían me impacto y hasta me asuste lo digo con sinceridad, me presento al que sería el maestro de obra en ese proyecto, un joven de color, vestido con ropas anchas como esas que usan los rapero, y con una gran cicatriz en su rostro, de inmediato me dije, este tipo es un delincuente y seguramente esa cicatriz se la hicieron en alguna pelea, esa semana estuve trabajando muy incómoda, el no conocer a aquel grupo de muchachos me hacía sentirme así, no me despegaba por un momento de mis pertenencias y recuerdo que hasta cambie de celular por esos días pues pensaba que me lo podían robar.

Conforme pasaba el tiempo e iba conociendo a estos muchachos, me daba cuenta de que eran buenas personas, que habían crecido y vivido toda la vida en un barrio, y la vida los había acostumbrado a expresarse como lo hacen muchos delincuentes, pues a decir verdad estaban rodeados de ellos. La verdad es que eran un excelente equipo de trabajo y constantemente me tocaba hacer trabajos con ellos, lo que me hizo establecer un vinculo de amistad con Geovanni el chico con la cicatriz en el rostro. Años mas tarde en otra obra uno de los trabajadores le pregunto en un almuerzo que teníamos, ¿Que le había pasado en la cara, que si había sido una pelea o algo así? Yo jamás me había atrevido a preguntar, pero sin duda era algo que me causaba mucha curiosidad, así que aproveche la ocasión para animarlo a que nos contara que le había pasado.

Cuando era un pequeño de apenas 2 años de edad, su padre era mecánico y reparaba automóviles en el garaje de su casa, el jugaba entre aquellos autos y un día sin su padre darse cuenta Geovanni estaba jugando entre dos carros, cuando sin saber encendieron uno de estos y se rodó hacia atrás, quedando la cabeza de el presionada entre los dos automóviles, de inmediato fue llevado al hospital donde se percataron que había tenido fractura de cráneo y tuvieron que operarlo de emergencia por eso, todos quedaron atónitos, incluyéndome, pues nadie se esperaba eso, en el momento me sentí tan mal por haber pensado tantas cosas horribles sobre él, pues de las personas que he conocido en mi vida el ha sido una de las mas nobles y es incapaz de tomar algo sin permiso o de hacerle daño a alguien, de hecho cuando estuve viajando por todo el país trabajando el siempre cuidaba de mí, hoy en día le dice a todos que yo soy como una hermana menor para él.

En otra obra recuerdo que me presentaron a un albañil nuevo, necesitábamos personal y el veía muy bien recomendado por otro albañil que tenia años trabajando con nosotros, era un señor muy serio y educado, siempre con una biblia debajo del brazo, recuerdo que se sentaba a leer la biblia siempre que terminaba de comer, así como también recuerdo que cada vez que yo decía algún improperio el se molestaba mucho y decía que a Dios no le agradaban las personas groseras, yo simplemente lo ignoraba, en el fondo el no era alguien que me inspirara confianza. Un día nos llamaron para trabajar dentro de un fuerte militar, había que hacer unas obras de mantenimiento allí, para lo cual nos pedían un listado detallado del personal antes de entrar allí a trabajar, se envió dicho listado y nos dieron carta blanca para trabajar.

Yo solo estuve allí un par de días pues tenia que irme a otra ciudad a supervisar los trabajos, así que ellos se quedaron con otro supervisor, y como maestro de obra estaba aquel señor que predicaba la palabra. Pasadas un par de semanas me llamaron de la oficina pidiendo que me dirigiera al fuerte militar pues había unas irregularidades, cuando llegue se estaban llevando esposado a aquel señor, mi impresión no se hizo esperar, estaba realmente asombrada, de inmediato busque alguien que me explicara que estaba pasando. Aquel señor era solicitado por las autoridades pues estaba acusado de 3 homicidios, quede como el lobo de las comiquitas con la quijada prácticamente en el suelo de mi asombro.

En la primera historia juzgué a Geovanni por el aspecto de su rostro y por su vestimenta, y pensé que era un delincuente, y en el segundo, aunque no me daba buena espina aquel señor, pensé que era una buena persona, pues siempre tenia la biblia con él y su educación y buenas costumbres eran otra cosa. Hice juicios contra esas personas sin conocerlos realmente, sin observar su comportamiento a profundidad, entonces para mi aquí es donde radica la diferencia entre juicio y observación. La observación es lo que podemos ver a simple vista, los detalles que podemos divisar de personas, hechos o cosas, y el juicio es lo que pensamos de estas. Juzgamos en base a lo que observamos, aunque no siempre sea lo mejor, pero nuestra mente lo hace casi que de manera automática.

_{Imágenes de mi propiedad, tomadas con la cámara de mi teléfono Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S y editadas con Snapseed y Canva.}