Would you agree that you probably aren’t the same person you were last year? You have more than likely developed some new views, opinions, and habits. Ranging from larger than life aspects perhaps like a new sense of purpose, maybe you’ve become more mature and respectable, or even flipping the coin per say you’ve developed more of a hostile attitude recently. Of course, we are focusing on the mental aspects - not a discovery that you can’t eat dairy anymore because it gives you the churns. And then there're even the itty-bitty evolutionary steps that develop that you might not even know about yourself. “I used to like cats but now I like dogs,” “I used to buy whole milk but now I buy skim,” “ I used to shake people’s hands but now I hug them instead.” We are endlessly altering the way we carry out our existence via the ‘ego tug of war’ in time!
So you’ve got to have heard the expression, “people never change,” somewhere right? Most of the time this claim is used when someone is upset, been betrayed, etc. often used in a negative manner. Of course, there're instances where this remark seems acceptable, but we cannot base the entire construct of a human nature’s motives and influences when certain aspects are what make that person who they are. It is in their DNA - their ever-mutating gene code through the constructs of the environment and introspection that is! Change is not a black and white subject, everything is far too complicated for us to fully understand and a lot of the times acceptance is the best medicine. Nonetheless, judgment is part of human nature as well.
We are trained to judge everything we see. Does a shampoo bottle have some nasty typography on it? Oh dear, better not choose that brand although I have no awareness of how actually successful this type of shampoo will be on my hair because I’m not going to give it that chance at first sight . “Well, I guess I just didn’t like how it looked, it didn’t strike me as attractive.” - said I, in a sappy rather sarcastic tone. If we see someone ‘looking’ suspicious (which in itself is opinionated) then our first instinct is to be wary and not to trust them. That’s just how we were all taught, to judge everything we see whether it be an object, an environment, or a human being. Is someone between the age of 35 to 40 sporting a chain wallet, a collage of drunkenly free tattoos, and a nice little Mountain Dew snap back to boot their accompanying three-day goatee? See how I’m being quite judgmental as well, towards a common array of stereotypical elements suiting the 21st century…’d-bag’ fashion? I don’t know a single thing about that person’s life yet our minds automatically make assumptions to keep us safe when we know for sure that we wouldn’t like someone to judge our entire existence based on our appearance. That image the man had is all a part of his change. Where do we draw the line between hypocritical instinct and getting to know the facts?
A simple answer would be that we should give everyone the time of day to present themselves before immediately jumping to accusations. Sooner or later once physical judgment is established that lends us to casting claims based on their personality too soon - which brings us back to how humans really do change - just not in the direct way we want to see! Of course, this is not a perfect scenario - there is never going to be an end to where we judge 'too soon' - we almost have to whether we say it out loud or we keep it in the back of our heads like a somewhat civilized dystopia. All of us should give the best attempt we can at being accessible and seeing other perspectives in the world. There isn’t going to be a correct answer for every situation and we must realize this - even if we have our claims we must come to terms with being wrong in the cycling seasons of second chances.
