One thing that I've come to learn is that people are like onions ... let me explain.

People put on this outward appearance, whether it be the confident one, the enthusiastic optimist, or even that one person who keeps to themselves in a lonely manner.

As humans, we tend to just accept what we see. We believe this outward appearance and form judgments, opinions, views, beliefs, and even stories solely based on what we think we are perceiving.

Now, what if I said, "everything is not what it seems"? I feel like although it is true, it is overused so much that it has kind of lost its effect; therefore, it is a cliche. That's why I say people are like onions.

An onion is made up of so many layers. First, you have the skin, the outer most part. This is what you want people to see, the aura you give off to others. A lot of times this personality can be thought of as your true personality, but we forget that there can be more to a person than what meets the eye.

As you peel back the layers, you start to learn more about the person. You learn likes and dislikes, favorite colors, pet peeves, nervous habits, things that make them uncomfortable, their passions, why they make some of the choices they do, and so on. As you may have been able to gather from my short list of examples, the more layers you go through, the more specific and deep you get. This starts out as getting to know the person, but quickly turns into relating to the person and becoming closer.

Finally, you come to the very center of the onion, which I like to describe as a person's true self: your core. It's what you believe in, how you grew up, your culture, your family, your biggest fears, your dreams, hopes, aspirations, your secrets, worries, and insecurities. It's your identity.

Now, I know the word identity can be pretty intimidating, as most of us probably have no idea what our identity is, and you probably think I'm crazy for mentioning it, but I feel like everyone knows in someway who they are to an extent. You know your comfort levels and you know your beliefs.

I think people are always going to change because change is constant in our world; however, I think that one thing our society loses sight of is that we know ourselves, but we don't know or understand everyone else. Now, I'm not telling you to go out and learn every single thing you can learn about some random person from campus. I am just telling you to put this in perspective. We believe what we see. We believe that the confident person is always so confident, when in reality, they may not always be that. That other person sitting off to the side from everyone else doesn't think that they're too good to sit with everyone else, they're just used to being alone. No one's really taken the time to peel their layers to see what's inside.

Perceptions are everywhere in this world today. That's a fact of life, but I've learned especially these last few weeks that it's better to give everyone a chance. Sometimes the things you learn can from them or just being around them can give you a whole new outlook on life.

I guess my point is that I feel like society has kind of lost the idea that people have so much to offer if you give them a chance to do just that. You can only tell so much about a person from people watching, maybe if you're like me, you'll stop watching and finally start talking.