When you see something new or meet someone new, you don’t realize it but you pass a judgment. We all do. Every time. Usually, we are not even aware of it.
You see this pretty blonde girl wearing a short skirt and a lot of make-up. You glance at her and quickly a judgment comes to you.
When you walk past this pale skinny teenager, there’s a good chance you’ll think that he plays video games all the time.
Or you see this Middle-East looking girl.
The funny thing is, you don’t even need to see them to judge them. If you stop and think about a young blonde in a mini skirt, you have a judgment ready. Maybe you are right. But chances are you are wrong. Because no one can be defined by only one judgment or idea.
The skinny guy might look like a nerd, and perhaps he is. But maybe even though he’s very young, he’s been to more funerals in the last year than you did in your entire life. Or maybe he’s actually the successful owner behind one of the websites you visit every day.
And the Middle-East looking girl might be Muslim. But maybe she’s not religious anymore because in her native land all her relatives are either dead or facing issues we can only imagine. Maybe she’s been in this country for years, about to be deported because her request for a visa was rejected, even though she’s been more involved in her local community than most.
It’s much easier to judge and categorize. We fit everything and everyone in their little boxes. And we move on. But sometimes, the box is not the right one. And we don’t see it because we rarely look back into our boxes and reassess.
Have you ever met someone and your first impression was less than favorable, and once you got to know the person a bit more, you realized they were actually great friends to hang out with?