Judging Other People
It’s fun, right?
Sometimes you can’t even avoid it. Been in an airport lately? If you are alone, toss on some tunes and take it all in. You are sure to be entertained and captivated.
I’ve been doing a bit of traveling lately and spending a good chunk of time on my own – people watching. I always have a book with me so typically I’ll read, but I’ll sit for ten or fifteen minutes and just take in the scene. Airports are especially generous when it comes to watching a diverse set of people. It’s a very enjoyable exercise, especially when you are with a friend or someone that you know very well and enjoy conversing with.
A call out of the scandalous woman in eight inch heels here, maybe a few comments about the extremely obese gentleman putting back a biggie sized combo #1 from McDonald’s over there. On and on it goes. Especially when you are in the airport! You have new people flowing in and out of the terminal all day long.
Feeling a little guilty?
I have zero feelings of guilt when I people watch at the airport. Even when I come to certain judgments about people that I don’t even know. I know nothing about them! You can learn a lot by doing some quality people watching. Here are a couple things to look out for that are interesting to me:
- The Attire. It’s a little different depending on where you go – an airport is going to be a little different than the zoo. Church is going to be a bit different than the bar, and so on. A person’s attire is interesting to me because you can make a handful of assumptions about that person. You might assume a person is conservative, or likes to socialize, etc.
- The Action. Fast, slow, goofy? You see some people that are in absolutly no rush to get anywhere. Then, you have people like me who tend to walk fast everywhere I go. I can be a bit too impatient from time to time – and the fact that I prefer to walk like I want to get to my destination is only a reflection of that.
Watching others in a mode of reflection seems to keep the negativity out.
The Takeaway
While its’ fun to people watch and judge others – it’s not fun to let it change the nature of your behavior with them or towards them. A judgment doesn’t always have to be a negative thing.
Not only can your assumptions be right about a person, but there’s so much more to a person beyond the surface and so much that you could never know without truly getting to know a person. I’ve met plenty of people that, once I get to know them, shock me because of how different they truly are – compared to what my first impression was of that person.
Enjoy life. Watch others. Expand your horizons.
—
Image by ttwv.
Related Posts
What up!
