You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?
People judge one another every single day. It does not matter what is the context of the moment or the disposition of the person, each and every day, individuals are profiled by people who they have never seen or talked to before. I will admit, I have done my fair share of making harsh judgments towards people I do not know, but I have learned to treat people the way that I want to be treated. I will also admit that I have witnessed individuals being judged by others, including myself.
On one occasion, I find myself in the middle of a house party on the north side of Sioux City full of complete strangers. I am wearing a plain, black V-neck t-shirt, expensive jeans, a Bulova watch that my father gave me when I graduated from high school, and high-top Nike tennis shoes with my hair styled to one side. I notice a few people around the room staring at me, including a dude with a patchy beard, a flat-bill New York Yankees hat on backwards, and his pants almost down to his knees even though is wearing a belt.
We make eye contact and he begins to approach me.
“If I knew J-Biebs was comin’ I wouldn’ta brought my girlfriend,” he says, laughing and looking over his shoulder at his buddies sitting across the room. “Nice V-neck, faggot!”
It is pretty obvious he had had too much to drink and was looking to stir up some controversy to impress his posse.
“Thanks, brother,” I reply coolly and turn away from him to rejoin my friends.
It takes the tanked-up Derek Jeter a minute to realize that he wasn’t going to get a fight out of me before he turns and walks back to his friends. I can hear him making jokes to his boys about me over the noise of the party. I can pick out words like “faggot” and “douchebag” being peppered into almost every sentence.
While this is happening, the only thing I feel is frustration. How come this jerk and his friends have to antagonize me? What have I ever done to them to make them believe that I am something I am not? If I had thick facial hair would people still say the same things? What about if I wore a buzz cut? I could literally change one thing about my appearance and all of a sudden, opinions change.
I am tired of being the target of judgment each and every day. If someone takes the time to get to know me, a vast majority of the time they appreciate my personality. Some people say, “Do not judge the book by its cover.” Well, I say do not judge at all. People can say anything they want to say, but for me, cover does matter.