I Am Prejudice

August.

I’m trying to figure out exactly how/when we got here. Summer is moving along very quickly, but I should say it has been an incredible one so far.

Crossing a few things off my Summer Bucket List – Hiking (check), Beach days (check), Camp (check), Get closer to God (check), Bake emoji cakes (check), Travel out of state (check, check) – Side note, did you know the speed limit in Maine is 70 mph? :) :) :) Let’s just leave that as is ;) :)

Anyway,

Camp! Four of the best days of my life this summer. I learned something about myself I felt I needed to share.

Maybe I didn’t actually need to go to camp to know that about myself. That wasn’t the purpose of going, because I already knew. I’ve also been working on it, but apparently not hard enough. Because I was literally slapped in the face when I realized I still have a long way to go.

Here goes: I’m prejudice.

I know. I’m working on it.

Everyone in life has a story.

Everyone has been through something that has shaped their views and their perspectives. There’s a reason why people are super smiley all the time, and why others put up walls wherever they go. We never really know a person until we hear their backstory. And without that backstory, we can’t fully understand what makes them [THEM].

But I don’t think we as humans are always aware of that. I feel like we have the natural tendency of assuming things about people, just because we can. I know I tend to. And I’m pretty sure it’s not something that’s done on purpose. We don’t plan it, it just happens. But what’s worse is that our assumptions are most often made based on momentary encounters. And that’s what annoys me most about my actions, whether or not it’s done on purpose.

>> Example, camp consisted of different Church groups from different States, so coming in we didn’t know each other. I remember asking someone a question the first night (I don’t recall exactly what it was, I just know it was really important), but I was not taken seriously at that moment, and in my mind he was officially the rudest person ever. I did not care because it was all about me and what I needed to know. And therefore I based his persona on his one response – the only interaction I had ever had with him. Fast forward a couple days, he ends up being one of the coolest, amazing, UN-RUDE person I had ever met.

>> Or the second night at camp when I was terribly tired; I mean I was beat! And out of the blue I had someone tell me I have RBF (Resting B**ch Face). I didn’t even know that was a thing until then lol! And I remember being so hurt and saying “Wait! What do you mean?! I’m like the nicest person ever!” I know, so dramatic haha. But I know now that’s not really what they meant…

If only our stories were visibly written all over us, the world would be such a friendly place because people will take some time to care.

Because of the position I held, I had the privilege of conversating with so many different people, and I later realized that at some point during the first night/first meet (before speaking to any of them), I had fooled myself into thinking I knew exactly what kind of person each one was because of something I noticed about them. And with every conversation I later had with someone, I was proved wrong. My assumptions were so so soo off.

Assumptions based on one smile, one frown, one yawn, one stare, one statement… One thing they did.

And it wasn’t until having these conversations with these incredibly, incredible people that it amazed me the level of ignorance I had. And maybe using “prejudice” in the beginning was too strong a word, but it’s important for me to point this out because sometimes people tend to be politically correct about the things they refuse to admit about themselves.

For the first time in forever, I let my guard down to let people in because of their stories. But do we really need to know about someone before being accepting of them? Or do we take them at face value? Those are hard questions.

But one thing I really hope to carry with me wherever I will be in life is to not be so quick to preconceive things about people I don’t know, or will ever personally know, because it is just wrong, and sad, and unfair of me… And I really, really hope to be the kind of person who is a little more forgiving and accepting of others after I learn a little about them… Because it is not our place to carry judgement or bad opinions about someone who is the way they are because of something that happened in their life.