Greetings all.
Today I'd like to talk about, (alright to WRITE about, don't be so bloody pedantic) how we perceive others, and more importantly perhaps how they perceive us or indeed how we perceive ourselves, which when you add it all up is an awful lot of perceptions, hence the title.
For example as a parent/grandparent, I perceive teenagers as obnoxious undisciplined ungrateful little shits, although little is probably the wrong description as an awful lot of them are taller than me these days, (are they getting taller or am I shrinking? maybe it's a bit of both.) anyway this is a view in which I suspect I am not alone, but on the flip side, that is to say from the teenagers point of view, they probably perceive me and most other parents/grandparents as overbearing over-controlling boring old farts who don't know what it's like to be young.
Of course it's easy to perceive groups as being one way or another, because when considering a group we are generalising, but what about on a more personal individual level? After all not all teenagers are as I have described, (just most of them), indeed I myself was a paragon of virtue when I was a teenager, just as I am now, then again maybe that's just how I perceive myself to be?
No sad to say I see myself as just your complete Mr average, average height, average weight, average size willy, (unfortunately), on the other hand my wife did used to see me as a sex god, but then again she always was easy pleased, the two oldest grand-kids used to perceive me as SUPER-GRANDDAD who leaps tall buildings with a single fart, (hey who am I to argue), now though they just see me as a private taxi service. My big brother perceives me as a weirdo, and that's OK because I perceive him as an arsehole, the eldest lad sees me as an anti-social people hater which is probably pretty accurate if truth be told, others in the family generally see me as Mr fix-it, and other people see me as umpteen different things, unfortunately non of them complimentary.
So as you can see from the above I am different things to different people, what about you? How do you perceive yourself as an individual? How do you think others perceive you? that will probably depend on what sort of impression you make initially, because the vast majority of us go off first impressions, hence the expression first impression counts, it shouldn't but unfortunately it does, especially when it comes to things like job interviews, how many times has a well dressed well manicured well spoken arsehole, who knows nothing about a given subject been awarded a job over someone infinitely more qualified but less well kept? sadly all to often I fear.
I learned long ago that first impressions can be very misleading, it was way back when I was young and green, and I joined my first motorcycle club, I'd gone along early to the pub where they held their meetings, so consequently I was the first to arrive, I went in got myself a drink and sat down to wait, it wasn't long before the first of the members turned up and what a first, I thought to myself shit! what am I getting into here, this fella looked like the epitome of a hollywood hells angel, long hair, tattoos, ear-ring, ripped oil stained jeans, cut-off jacket full of bike patches and badge's, and a studded leather belt with a fox tail hanging off it, I thought he's got to be riding a Harley, how wrong could I be? the man rode a 250 honda custom, and he was one of the nicest fella's you could ever wish to meet, wouldn't say boo to a goose, and he'd do anything he could to help you out, it just goes to show.
On the flip side a few years later in a different motorcycle group, there was another bloke who was somewhat cleaner better attired etc, in fact a typical upstanding bmw riding gent, who from appearances you would think was a thoroughly nice fellow, turned out he was a back-stabbing weaselly f*****g turd, go figure! like I said first impressions can be very misleading.
So maybe we should learn to ignore first impressions, and instead give people a chance to prove what they're like by talking to, and attempting to get to know them before we judge. Sadly that's easier said than done, mostly because we all tend to judge the book by the cover, which applies not just to how people look but also to how they talk act and otherwise express themselves, it is universal and applies to all echelons of society, it's like the old saying, if your face fits, you're in.
Sadly mine never has.
