Quote:
Originally Posted by DayOne  I honestly doubt whether the majority of people would fit what I call "decent", "intelligent", "friendly", "kind", etc. I'm really not sure. I'm at university and so most of the people I meet are reasonably intelligent but I'm honestly beginning to think that this gives me a slanted view of what the human race is like.
Are the majority of people idiots? |
Those two encounters you describe represent only a minuscule fraction of those people's lives, yet it sounds like you believe that's enough evidence to decide they are unfriendly or unintelligent people.
Are you saying you've never been out of line? You've never been frustrated and got mad at someone in traffic when they didn't really do anything wrong? You've never been drunk and possibly offended someone?
Would it make sense for that person to conclude that you are therefore nothing more than an unintelligent goon? That five or ten random seconds of your behavior is a reliable indicator of your worth as a person?
If you have never done anything like that, then congratulations; you are perfect, and yes, the rest of us are idiots.
There is good and bad in everybody. There is kindness and rudeness in everybody. There is tolerance and intolerance in everybody. Chance determines which parts we see, and of whom.
So many times I have judged people upon meeting them, only to realize later that I was way off base, that there is much more to EVERYONE than a first impression could possibly assess.
It is impossible to determine who someone is after only encountering them once or twice. You are only getting a tiny snapshot. You know snapshots are; sometimes the picture is taken at the wrong second and you end up looking drunk or sad or psychotic. Somebody who never saw you again would only have that one image of you. Hopefully they aren't so foolish as to think they know anything about you.
Every time you withhold judgment, the world becomes a better place. Honestly. You'll perceive an improvement in everyone. When you encounter bad behavior, remind yourself that there is good behavior in that person too.