2020 Vision

2020 Vision

Perhaps, like me, you were optimistic about the year 2020. The name is catchy, implying perfect vision. In reality, this year has been far from perfect.  Now that we are halfway through the year, it is time to reflect on the last six months, the future, and how it all aligns with our vision.

The term “20/20 vision” implies you can see something perfectly, but  the actual definition is that a person can see something 20 feet away with sharpness and clarity. Other aspects of vision, including peripheral awareness, eye coordination, depth perception, focusing ability and color vision are not considered in 20/20 vision. Perhaps what is most eye-opening (pun intended) is the lack of general perception in 2020.

How we see something is more important than what we see. How we perceive something affects all aspects of our lives. The stronger our perception, the more challenging it is to alter it. If all of our vision and perceptions were perfect this would be fine, but if anything is clearly visible in 2020 it is that we are off course!

One core Jewish value is ‘dan l’kaf zechut’, loosely translated as ‘judge others meritoriously’.   The Torah also phrases this mitzva as ‘b’tzedek tishpot et amitecha’, ‘with righteousness you shall judge your fellow’. Those phrases simply mean ‘always see the best in others’. The concept is simple. The implementation must be our life’s work.

Let’s unpack the aforementioned commandment of how we must perceive others. First of all, it applies to everyone on both ends. Everyone must be judging. Everyone will be judged. All of it must be favorable. How do you feel when you think you are being judged negatively? When you are in a situation where you feel people are looking down on you for whatever reason, like intelligence, appearance, personal choices, you will feel negatively about them. You are likely to feel anxious, angry, and defensive. Ultimately you will judge those whom you feel were judging you, furthering a cycle of frustration, resentment, and distrust. And these emotions will grow and fester. 

This is how we got to 2020 vision instead of 20/20 vision. People are judging others negatively, perceiving they are being judged negatively, and generally feeling disgruntled with the world around them. Currently these judgements are often connected to someone’s thoughts about a political party, wearing a mask, unholding social distancing, and the value of protesting. All of these topics are important and trigger very specific philosophies, ones you possibly oppose. And we are inclined to judge others, condemning their choices and feel judged by them for ours.

Perhaps you do not feel judged or judgy. You are an innocent bystander, proud of your ‘You do you’ philosophy. Guess what? You are also not fulfilling this mitzvah to judge others favorably. You are commanded to think about others, their experience, and then think meritoriously about them. Ignoring them does not achieve this. 

For all parties, those who are negative and those who are neutral, need to take steps to judging others with righteousness. This is the crux of Black Lives Matter and practically every other debate of a social or political nature. The task seems insurmountable.  The solution is to start small. Judge one person favorably. It could be someone you already know and like, it could be someone you actively dislike, or someone you’ve never paid attention to before. Think about their life and who they are. Judge them meritoriously. When you feel good about that person or at least sympathetic to their plight, think about someone else. Slowly you will notice a paradigm shift. You will see others more positively. You will see yourself more positively and feel less judged by others. 

This positive vision of others is the key to 2020 vision. The number twenty in Hebrew is represented by the letter ‘kaf’. This letter is also a prefix which means ‘like’, the prefix used to describe and make connections. The duplicity of this letter implies the urgency and two-fold nature of understanding others. You see what someone is like, really like, in a meritorious way. Look twice. Look deep. Look at righteousness. 

The key to 2020 vision is rethinking how we perceive, describe, and understand the people around us.  This is the time to embrace judging others favorably. The heart of someone twenty feet away should be like your own heart.