Judging people by their actions.

So many times we'll say 'don't judge a book by it's cover', and we'll feel really good about ourselves for saying it, because it's right and it's what good people say...right? And it's all very well, judging people by their appearance has never been intelligent nor has there ever been a legitimate reason for it, but how often do judge people by what they do?
So often we base our opinions of people solely on what they do. This is probably why we tend to start conversations with strangers with question like: 'What do you do?' 'In what line of work are you?' etc. instead of asking them about who they are.
Think about your closest friends...what makes them your friends? Is it because they do things that are interesting. Is it because they do 'good things'? Most of the time this might have an influence, but it's never the real reason. It's always because you feel something for that person, whether it's love, trust, acceptance, whatever. Human relationships are based on emotion, and yet we're always trying to hide that emotion behind this wall of mere actions and reactions.
How many times have we heard/said 'he's a bad person', 'she's no use', 'they're evil'? How many of those times did we stop to think about the reasons behind the accusations. How many of those accusations were based on ignorance or even jealousy or another emotion? Most of these stem from what we see other people do, but we never ask 'why', we never stop and wonder about the person behind the actions.
I despise it when people assume things about other people, when they really don't know what the story behind it is. Yes, some people do 'bad things' just for a laugh or a kick or because they're insane. But my personal opinion is that no person is born bad, and that no person every becomes completely evil, no matter what they might be doing.
And I guess that's the point I'm trying to make, if we stopped judging people by what they do and try to look at the reasons behind it I think there would be less hate in the world and more understanding. We would stop assuming we are always right, and question ourselves and our own motivations and thoughts a bit. After all, the only way to change the world is to start with yourself...as Michael Jackson said: 'start with the man in the mirror'.
Ps. I will never condone people harming themselves or someone else, but I think the only solution to this kind of behaviour is finding the reason behind it.