“Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover”

I’m sure we’ve all heard that famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Its rings true across the spectrum. Growing up, you never realized the effect of attire,appearance and race on the way people perceived you. One can deny that oh no in our society , we don’t judge people by their appearance but rather by their character and whats in their heart. But that kind of outlook on this subject is an anomaly. Going to school, I noticed that people who were dressed better and wore nicer attire , were definitely shown more respect, and were treated better too. In terms of race people were evaluated and stereotyped. Even in terms of attractiveness, the more perceived attractive individuals were definitely shown more leniency and were judged less. This idea of attractiveness was dictated and created by the media and society. Maybe it has to do with socioeconomic status and the classification of attire or it could merely be that we as humans are drawn to  “pretty” people and things. This idea of being “pretty” and attractiveness is a social construct dictated by the media and society too. It could also be the idea of stereotypes about certain cultures, religions and races that are present in our society.

Students themselves would dress better and change their appearance in the name of social acceptance. Its something subconscious I feel, maybe it has something to do with psychology, but it does exist and is very apparent for the observer. I feel as if it also depends on the way the person was brought up. There are also several factors that affect this way of thought. The desire for social acceptance is a normal trait, everyone wants to be socially accepted and liked. I feel as if some people claim that this is not true and do not care for such things, but I also feel as if maybe the absence of social acceptance may make them realize that yes in fact we all do want to be socially accepted. The absence of social acceptance, draws enunciation on it, similar to how in order to feel the strength and value of happiness, a person may need to experience sorrow or sadness. There’s no rainbow without the rain, and there’s no light without the darkness. A juxtaposition is needed to create this variance.

However, as I grow older, I do notice that in institutions or social groups where education and grades are prioritized over superficial aspects such as appearance, there is a great deal less of this. People are more focused on judging and respecting an individual based on their intelligence level or their perceived intelligence level which is analyzed by their grades. I have a strong opinion on this too, and will discuss this further in another post. But for now, the lesson I have learnt is to avoid judging or summing up a person, without actually knowing and understanding the person. A person, needs to be evaluated and judged less, and understood more. People do change, and perception is VERY subjective. The way I see one thing may differ greatly from the way you see things, and the way someone else may see things. People all have different morals, views and ethics and even clear statements can be misinterpreted, so talking out this statement and understanding this statement properly is important too.  However, despite all this , there still does need to exist a system of judgement to dictate moral and ethical issues, and basic human rights. But overall, I believe that we as humans have a right to respect regardless of other medial factors.

-Blooming and Wilting