Duties

Did you know that we, as people, make first impressions of others in the first 1/10th of a second that we approach him or her? It's true. These first impressions last, they attempt to describe a person's true character, background, and attitudes. It's so unfortunate that these judgments are made so rapidly without any true information about the person. It's shown that the judgements we make about a person in that first 1/10th of a second are the same judgements we have of a person after 5 minutes being around them. So how do we get out of this habit of trying to hold onto our first impressions of others?

I've found that as I truly get to know someone, not just associate myself with him or her for several minutes, but truly take an interest in his/her life, I end up liking the person. I have made way too many hasty judgements of people in the past and at the very least, 95% of the time, once I get passed my stubborn first impressions, I really do like them!

Getting Personal: I recently have made an association with somebody whom I first thought to be rude, self-centered, and condescending. Guess what I discovered? She has SO many more difficulties in her life right now than I can imagine in my own and she is dealing with them the best she can. I have now found the opposite to be true of her. She is stronger than I fear I would be, selfless, and tries to pull the positive out of the difficulties that face her. 

Moral of this post? I've learned (and am still working on improving) to try my best to disregard first impressions I create about people. After all, who is the true and just judge? It's not our responsibility to fill. Our duty here is to love our brothers and sisters and help them strengthen their weaknesses as they will for us in return.