I was standing at the train station the other day, waiting for a bunch of friends while talking to another bunch. Then, there was this one guy coming our way and talked for a little while with one of us. I wasn’t really paying attention until a friend of mine said, “He is so gay.” I looked, and he’s gone, but I kinda knew who it was. It’s just this some guy from school.
It later occurred to me that we are indeed creatures with one-pointed views. Of all the traits and impressions that the guy signaled at that very moment, in fact how many of us standing there caught the one and only impression of him being gay? And believe me, that was solely the only thing we had in our minds in that whole two to three minute encounter. We’re indeed biased without us meaning it.
I mean, the guy looked okay when he talked. He didn’t look swishy or dandy or anything for all that matters. He just had this one big bag hanging over his shoulder, he was holding on to its holders with both hands while talking, and I guess he liked wearing tank tops (cos I’ve seen him wearing tank tops several times). So, how gay was that? Is there even a measure to how gay a person is? My point is, why didn’t any of us say any other things besides gay?
Well, obviously my friend could just say,” He’s good-looking”, or “He’s smart”, or even “He’s loud”, cos he kind of was. Cos believe me, if we cared enough to pay attention at the way the guy talked, the way he behaved, or the thing that he was talking about other than his disconcerting shoulder bag and tank top staring at us in the face, I daresay we could know more about this guy and not just gay guy. But now we never know, do we? cos he could be anything. He could be funny, maybe he talked about funny things the other day, or he could be charming, or annoying, or he could either be smart or a smartass, he could be intellectual or all talk, or real kind at heart, or even none of those, not even gay. And we never know.
So do you see where the problem is? I think we’re seeing way too shallow. Sometimes, it’s not what we see that’s superficial, but it’s us seeing through naked eyes, believing just the frame of mind, and satisfied with just the nutshell.
Imagine how different things could be if we delve deeper than the usual, seeing past the stereotype? Even the people we’ve known for years could be different people overnight. It’s not that they’ve never been, it’s just we’ve never seen. Cos most of the time, we see just what we want to see, and that’s just how perception is reality to us.
It later occurred to me that we are indeed creatures with one-pointed views. Of all the traits and impressions that the guy signaled at that very moment, in fact how many of us standing there caught the one and only impression of him being gay? And believe me, that was solely the only thing we had in our minds in that whole two to three minute encounter. We’re indeed biased without us meaning it.
I mean, the guy looked okay when he talked. He didn’t look swishy or dandy or anything for all that matters. He just had this one big bag hanging over his shoulder, he was holding on to its holders with both hands while talking, and I guess he liked wearing tank tops (cos I’ve seen him wearing tank tops several times). So, how gay was that? Is there even a measure to how gay a person is? My point is, why didn’t any of us say any other things besides gay?
Well, obviously my friend could just say,” He’s good-looking”, or “He’s smart”, or even “He’s loud”, cos he kind of was. Cos believe me, if we cared enough to pay attention at the way the guy talked, the way he behaved, or the thing that he was talking about other than his disconcerting shoulder bag and tank top staring at us in the face, I daresay we could know more about this guy and not just gay guy. But now we never know, do we? cos he could be anything. He could be funny, maybe he talked about funny things the other day, or he could be charming, or annoying, or he could either be smart or a smartass, he could be intellectual or all talk, or real kind at heart, or even none of those, not even gay. And we never know.
So do you see where the problem is? I think we’re seeing way too shallow. Sometimes, it’s not what we see that’s superficial, but it’s us seeing through naked eyes, believing just the frame of mind, and satisfied with just the nutshell.
Imagine how different things could be if we delve deeper than the usual, seeing past the stereotype? Even the people we’ve known for years could be different people overnight. It’s not that they’ve never been, it’s just we’ve never seen. Cos most of the time, we see just what we want to see, and that’s just how perception is reality to us.
0 comments:
Post a Comment