Who would have guessed I would marry a person who is an opera singing, clogging, public speaking, exercise scientist who can connect to another person on a deep level in seconds. When I met him all I saw was a mullet guy who seemed a bit arrogant and wore brown tennis shoes. It took time to learn all the amazing things about him.
In fact, I have found it interesting in life how little we know about what is happening around us.
For example, how much do we know about the people we see and interact with on a daily basis. Unless we choose to reveal things about ourselves, or unless we choose to learn the details of the people around us, we have a limited knowledge of who the person is. And, as a result, we make initial judgements and then treat the person in a particular way as a result.
One time my husband and I decided to test this. We knew some people who owned a cleaning business and said we would clean a small bank twice a week to help them out. The people who worked in the bank only knew us as cleaners. We wore clothes to clean in, so they didn’t have another reference point. How would they ever have know that we had “day jobs”? They treated us like we were below them. They were rude and condescending.
Interestingly, I believe that no matter what a person does for a job, we should judge them on their character. They could be a mother or father, a sister or brother...
What did we learn? That you never know who you are talking to. I never know who I am talking to. So I get to treat each person I meet with respect and compassion.
I think it is the way we treat the people we do not know that reveals our character.
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