November 14th

Dear Diary,

Why is it so easy for us to jump into conclusion about people without even knowing a thing about them? Why is it so easy to think the worst about a person whose name we do not even know?

I was out with a few people today and we were discussing about prostitutes, they assumed that all the girls that lived in a certain building were prostitutes, I was of the opinion that it was an unfair generalization because families with well-raised daughters lived there too. Just as we were passing the building we saw a young lady standing waiting for a taxi in front of the building, and they both went ‘see, like this girl now, there is no way you can tell me she is not a prostitute’. How can you just look at someone you do not know and jump to such a horrible conclusion about her?

Its horrible but we are all guilty of it, we see someone looking a certain way and we just conclude that they are that way. Yes more often than not our conclusions turn out to be right, but why can’t we just wait to get to know that person and let the person show us who they really are instead of just concluding merely by just looking at them. On the occasions where we are wrong, where our conclusions are wrong, do we not feel foolish?

I know how it feels like to be on the receiving end of people jumping into conclusion without even knowing me. People concluded a lot about me in uni, recently when I joined a class group on BBM, all their conclusions came to the fore. These were people I never even said hello to, yet they were experts in all Iphie related issues. More often than not, when we eventually get to know the person, we end up saying, I didn’t know you were like this oh, I thought you were like this. Why not spare yourself that regret?

When I meet a person, I try not to have preconceived ideas about them; I try not to draw any conclusions from what I think I know. I also try not to make any conclusions from what people have to say about that person, I keep it at the back of my mind, but I draw no conclusion from it. Sometimes I fail, but then I am only human. They way I see it, when I meet someone for the first time, I try not to jump to any conclusion about them, its like I am giving them a plain sheet of paper, its up to them to colour it the way they like. That coloured sheet that they return is what I draw my conclusions from.

Don’t jump to unfair conclusions about people you do not even know, how would you feel if the same conclusions were made about you?

Love always,

Iphie 

XoXo