Diet

There is a phrase that summerizes bad criticism.  It is, " I eat my brother/sister to fatten myself up."  What it means to me is that we tend tend to criticize so that we fatten up our own egos.  It can blind us to see how God might be working in someone's life.  It cannot comprehend what might be motivating someone's heart to act or be a certain way.  We can tend to bury in anger the frustration that we cannot change someone else.  Sometimes we can criticize authority because it rubs against our own sense of inferiority.  Of all the people and situations that do not warrant my criticism, I could substitute a prayer for them.  Maybe even one of praise.