The Race of 1000 Faces
Some people tell you too much within minutes of meeting them.
Other people reserve themselves, slowly letting you get to know them. Still, there are those that let you know just what they want to let you know.
Certain folks tell you more than you care to hear. And, just when you think you know someone, they do something that really surprises you.
Regardless, how well do you really know that person? How well can you really know a person?
It is easy to get to know someone in a certain atmosphere. Different people bring out different traits in other people, but rarely does anyone truly know what makes some tick. That’s why psychiatrists and psychologist encourage patients to examine themselves; to examine their pasts; to examine their dreams. Even a psychiatrist is giving an educated guess at best.
The point is this, it’s tough enough learning about ourselves. As we deal with the constant changes presented to us, we ourselves change. It doesn’t matter if we’re 16 or 50, change is an ongoing process. To believe otherwise is naive. And to think you know other people better than you know yourself is even more naive.
It’s easy to make assumptions, to say one person is one way and someone else is another.
Opinions change.
Voices change.
People change.
While it may be easy to know certain aspects of a person, there are parts of a person we can never know. Even those that love a person most, may not really know that person. Did Albert Einstein’s parents really know what he was going to become or what made his mind function? How about Lee Harvey Oswald?
So many people see in other people what they want to see, reflecting their own views and opinions, choosing to find what they want to find —this is probably one of the greatest basis for conflict.
If someone doesn’t understand or is different from someone else, then people are quick to make assumptions. Quick to judge something they don’t understand. Or, simply, they are quick to dismiss the possibility of something they aren’t aware of for the sole reason that they think it unlikely.
But really, they just don’t know.
I know you.
I know people like you.
That’s not true.
I may know things similar. I may know people that act, look, or seem similar.
But I don’t know you.
Shoot, I just shook hands with myself.
by Brian Barsuglia
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