“Do not judge a book by it’s cover”
People are judgmental, It is an important, necessary and fundamental human behavior. There is a current belief in the youth that one should not judge. In the real world, such efforts will fail. Humans cannot see black and white. It would be a huge impediment in the early stages of the human evolution to not be judgmental. Let me provide an example, an early pre-historic human is roaming a forest in Eurasia. He is hungry but knows well enough he does not possess the energy nor the support of this tribe to catch any sort of wild boar. After all, the weak and frail humans only managed to overcome the solid, fierce and menacing animals using its
large brain and impeccable teamwork. He would not stand a chance to catch food, no. He must hunt for something much smaller or possibly, a plant. He finds a frog, he is delighted to have some food, he sprints silently yet fast towards the mud In front of a tree and picked it up. He then was about to twist its neck, but he noticed something, its’ bright green color, he drops it instantly. He knew better. For it scares his most basic instincts and has heard horrific rumors. Here, we see that the human drops the brightly colored frog simply for its color. Is it racist? was he the great ancestor of Hitler? Well, maybe (for both). But we see here is that classification of organisms by look, is essential for our survival.
Now, I am not saying we should harass those who are different from us, No. I am firmly of the belief that it is character that makes a person. And character is the best (and possibly, only moral) method of differentiation. Humans do and will have a first impression that is highly affected by physical appearance. But that does NOT provide an excuse for discrimination. After all, we are not the sum of our first impressions, we are a sum of our actions. And although, we cannot control our first impression, what we can do is re-consider. We can suppress those first impressions and postpone the final judgement. Obviously the first impression will have a lasting impression to some degree whether we wish for it or not.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a very widely spread idiom, yet publishers spend millions on designing the front cover. So, it clearly, is a belief in our minds but not in our subconscious. It is human nature to judge, it is a necessity to our survival. We must understand that this phenomenon is happening for it is the only way to combat this phenomenon.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” -King
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