By Sheersho Zaman
From a very early age, we are taught something very important. That is, to “not judge a book by its cover.” We are taught to never judge something or someone by an outward appearance, or simply to not be shallow. However, regardless of how much we are taught this or how young we are when it is ingrained in us, for some reason, we keep doing what we are told not to do. We keep being “judgmental.”
Take for example a man in a suit walking by. He is wearing spectacles and walks with a few books in hand. From his outward sharply dressed appearance, he may seem like a decent guy and a good Samaritan overall. However, looking deeper into his life, you can find out that he abuses his wife and children, commits adultery and has a very long criminal record to his name. On the other side of the spectrum, imagine there is a girl who is completely clad in tattoos. She has more than a handful of piercings and her wardrobe consists of leather jackets and tattered jeans. She looks like a delinquent, but in reality, she spends most of her free time volunteering at homeless shelters. She is an aspiring musician and most of her songs deal with the struggles faced by mankind when being oppressed. She gives her entire life in the service of humanity and yet most people would only judge her based on how she looks rather than what she does.
These are both rather extreme scenarios, but it is very probable that these extreme scenarios can take place in reality. One look and we try and map out the entire person’s life in our head. We convince ourselves that the map we created is the entire truth.
What’s worse is how people are belittled on what they show on the surface. Someone who does not talk that often is immediately labeled as being “boring” or having nothing “interesting” say, when in truth the person in question might have a raging storm of thoughts in their head that they can’t express due to their introverted nature. A person is convinced that he is in love with a girl and that she is an angel who descended from the heavens just because of how attractive she is to him. The fact that she is a horrible person overall is something that he is completely blind to. A pregnant teenager is immediately labeled as being the kind of girl who sleeps around; when in truth she had been raped by assailants when she was returning home. These are all just examples, but it is terrifying how close to reality they ring true. If one simply looks around, such incidents can be found in ample supply.
Being judgmental and shallow only serves to degrade people who do not deserve it, while putting others on pedestals that they should not even be allowed near. People are a culmination of their experiences, not what they look like or their profession or their educational background. So the next time your mind immediately puts a tag on someone after meeting them, make sure you take the time to look a little deeper. You might be surprised with what you find, for better or worse.