UNITED STATES—So many of us have heard the phrase ‘Never Judge a Book by its Cover.’ Yet we constantly do it on a daily basis, which raises the question why. I sometimes find myself fascinated at the notion of being able to know what people are thinking at times. Kind of like the super power that Professor X from the “X-Men” comic book series possesses, but then again, I don’t think I want that level of stress in my life.
I’m bringing this up because so many of us tend to think we know who a person is based on their appearance on the outside and that could not be further from the truth. Just because something appears one way, doesn’t mean it is fully accurate. I’ll give you a prime example, on the outside I look like a Black person and most people assume that. However, what very few know is there is more to my lineage and who people think I am.
For starters, my father is Black and my mother is bi-racial. My mother’s father, i.e. my grandfather was White. Yes. My grandfather is White, and I recall the first time I told someone that they were taken aback. All they kept saying to me was, “But you’re Black.” And my response was, “And what does that mean?” I have lineage from my grandfather’s side who own slaves, and someone who ran as Vice President for the United States of America. I don’t know as much history about it as I would like to, but I have heard and someday I might travel down that rabbit hole.
In addition, I have Irish blood in my veins. Am I actually celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? No, but when I tell people I’m Irish they look at me like I’m crazy. Again, I’m Black, but what people don’t know is my mom’s dad was Irish. We’re all mixed with something, sometimes we just don’t know what it is at times. I’m bringing this up because we tend to stare at people thinking we know the full picture based on what they look like, but that could not be further from the truth.
My stepdad is battling dementia and it has gotten bad. His mind just doesn’t process things fully. He has trouble with memory, but he’s still a human being. He is not completely gone as some people would like to write him off, and I wish people would stop with the staring. The look on his face is not him noting an issue, he is processing stimuli and it takes him some time to connect the dots on some things. I truly wish people would understand because it is frustrating to see people stare and whisper without truly having any idea as to what is going on.
We don’t know other people’s stories and we should feel the need to judge and make judgements without understanding someone’s true tale. The cover a book can have a ton of depth to it that if we open the book and start to read it from start to finish you might be stunned what we discover. I think we truly have to be open to learning more about people instead of just basing what we think of someone because of a first impression. First impressions mean things, but as pointed out you can never ‘judge a book by its cover.’
Written By Davy Jones
