Class Assignment - Quickwrite - Appearances Can Be Deceiving

A lot of times, people are misled by the way others look. For example, when I was in Belgium, because I looked asian, most westerners directly assumed that I was Japanese, so would try to greet me in Japanese. Personally, I have many times assumed that a movie is bad just by watching the trailer. The same could be said about the saying: Don't judge a book by its cover. Many times the books appearance may be misleading. Though for me I'm not necessarily affected by the book's cover, most times I judge by the length of the book. Thicker books may put off people easier. However, I have discovered that the lengths of books don't make it slow or boring. For example, the "Chaos Walking" trilogy are three very thick books, however, the pace of the book moves very fast and there is almost always a twist at the end of every chapter. Other things that might be misleading to people is the appearance of someone. For example, if someone wore glasses and carried around a big bag full of books, the first impression people get of the person is that perhaps he is a nerd. They might not know that maybe he was born with near-sightedness, and was just carrying the books for his friend. People are often misled by their first impression. The modern mind is shaped by the media, and what we are taught. Through television and books, we are taught different stereotypes that are imprinted inside our heads, thus, giving us the image of the 'nerd'. Also, past experience may shape our way of thinking. Someone who has been through a hard life will definitely get different first impressions than those that have led a good life. But these first impressions are given to us through 'first glances', when we don't know fully well about the person or thing. In order to break this 'first impression', we must try to get to know the person or thing better. Often, people are surprised to see that their first thought of the person or thing is wrong. So we must learn not to make judgements too quickly, and to, instead, keep an open-mind until we know the person or thing fully.