Books, Their Covers, and Judging Them

Some of my friends and I were having a conversation about the way we wished we looked. The conversation turned to the impressions that we gave to people when we first met them. One of my friends said “you should never judge a book by its cover.” That is a very idealistic and true statement. We should never judge a person by just the way they look. But is that not what we have been taught to do? Doesn’t come in handy sometimes? I mean simply crossing the street because someone is from a different ethnic background as you, maybe isn’t the best or nicest thing to do. But let’s just say that the person you wanted to avoid by crossing the street was carrying a knife. Absolutely judge that book and cross the street. Not all of our life situations are that extreme. I know I have been judged to quickly and have been completely taken the wrong way. I used to be a manager for a very large company. Most of the time when I was at work, especially if was taking over a new facility, I was all business. I am a big guy, have a loud voice and I can be intimidating sometimes. On a first glance or during a first encounter depending on the situation I can be quickly taken as a complete jerk, a hard nosed, no fun guy. When it came down to business I was all about the business and accomplishing goals, that’s what made me good. What separated me from most of the other good leaders that I worked with is that I cared about my associates beyond their eight hours they worked for me. It was not uncommon for me to take someone into my office to just chat. I checked in with them and how their lives were going outside of the job. Not because I was nosy but I understood that their lives at work and outside of work affect each other. Someone has a bad day at home, they come in to work and take it out on our customers. Someone has a bad day at work they go home and kick the dog. It was important for me to teach my associates the balance that I had learned. Some of the associates couldn’t believe I was interested because no one had ever expressed an interest in their lives before. I wasn’t really a jerk as I was a good boss and leader. I guess I said all this to say that some books need to be judged, they need to get that quick once over and be categorized quickly. Once we have judged it by its cover we also need to commit to taking the time to give it an in depth look to see if it can add something to our lives.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing.
Mike