We are often told that it is most important to create a good first impression when meeting somebody for the first time. The connotation is that we are most often judged first by our physicality, and only secondly upon our character. Sadly, this is the criteria by which we are all judged in a world that seems to place a heavy value upon aesthetics and does not bother to delve deeper into a person’s actual value that goes beyond his or her physicality. It is important to understand why it is wrong and downright unreliable, to judge a book, or in this case, a person by his cover / physical appearance. 3 of these reasons are exactly what I shall be discussing in the succeeding paragraphs in order to prove the statement that “You can’t judge a book / people by its / their cover.
My first reason for believing in this statement is that I have more than once found myself in the position of not actually meeting a person but rather, seeing a person from a distance. From there, I am able to observe the person’s actions and manners which then influence my unofficial impression of the person. Such is the power of predisposition in these cases that I often find myself changing my mind about a person after being formally introduced and spending some time with him or her.
I then discover that any negative impressions I may have observed or had of the person are totally unfounded and the person is more often than not, the exact opposite of what I thought. That their actions which I observed, their covering so to speak, had a reason to deliver that certain impression but that it was nothing more than that, a misconstrued idea of who the person really is.
Secondly, I find that every person, myself included, wears some sort of mask out in public all the time. This is the mask that helps us to create an aura or image which we believe is necessary to survive in say, our professional lives. For example, my mother, who is one of the kindest souls I know of, is often pre-judged to be a stern and no-nonsense executive because she often uses a stern voice and projects a strong character in order to get the work at her office done.
Therefore, her subordinates judge her by the covering that she wears at her office. Sometimes, without ever discovering that outside the office, she treats everyone else as an equal, and that includes her subordinates at her office.
Lastly, I would like to present myself as a victim of the prejudging that occurs everyday. Even though I manage to reverse the impression that certain people seem to have of me over time, the mere fact that they judged me by my cover leaves me with an emotional pain. In fact, being judged by your cover, most specially if it is a wrong impression, is one of the most painful events that can ever happen in a persons life. However, the practice is so common nowadays that it is practically accepted as a norm and simply shrugged off when it should not be.
The argument that a person can be judged by his cover is almost as laughable and hurtful as racial profiling. I mean, just because a person has a name often associated with the Muslim part of the world does not make him a terrorist. You have to get beyond the covering of his name in order to find out who he truly is. And believe me, what you find out will often be an amazing revelation. Remember, the book cover does not tell the story. You won’t know how nice or bad the story or person is until you actually take the time to read the story or get to know the person.
In conclusion, I would like you to keep these reasons in mind the everytime you find yourself in the situation of prejudging a person. Remember, the most important thing is to get to know a person before passing judgement on his character or capabilites. Otherwise you will only end up inficting false judgement upon everyone you meet. It is impossible to accurately “judge a book by its cover”.