A Lesson for the Day

The other day I had a sort of epiphany. It started out small and grew into a giant revelation about life. And it all began with my new sunglasses.

A few weeks ago I finally got fed up with having to decide between wearing my regular glasses when I'm driving so that I can read road signs or wearing my sunglasses so that I can keep my eyes open on bright days. I came to the realization that I was going to have to shell out the big bucks and get some prescription sunglasses so as to avoid making a choice either way. So I went and tried on millions of pairs until I found the perfect ones...large enough to have good eyeball coverage, but small enough that I don't look like the all too common species of insect, the Female Southernalifornius. The instant I put them on I knew I had made a great decision. I looked pretty fly and I could actually see. It was amazing.

As I started wearing my glasses around everywhere, I began to accidentally wear them indoors without noticing. I'm not sure what the deal was because you would think the world suddenly getting darker would tip me off, but it didn't. I guess the fact that I could see and read and do everything normally with my super rad shades on overtook all my ability to sense change in lighting. After realizing I had done this a few times, I started to think about how much easier it is sometimes to just keep your sunglasses on when you're inside rather than taking them off an not being able to see, or taking them off and switching to regular glass which typically is more effort than it's worth especially when you're stepping inside for only a few minutes. So it's official: I've turned into one of those too-cool-for-school people who wears sunglasses outdoors and in.

That's when it hit me that maybe it's the same for those many other people who I have judged over the years for wearing their sunglasses even when they are inside. Or when it's not sunny. Maybe they aren't high on ecstasy. Maybe they don't think they are better than everyone else. Maybe they just can't see without glasses on. And that's where the epiphany began. I have judged so many people over the years for doing exactly the same thing that I do now, and the reason I judged them is because I didn't understand why they were doing it. I didn't look at the situation from their perspective. I simply judged without giving the fact that they might have a good reason for doing such a thing any consideration. And that's something I don't like about myself. I am one of those people who makes instant judgements upon meeting people, and I have been proven wrong so many times that I know I need to make an extra effort to be more open to people about why they are the way the are or why they might do the things they do. Just because someone doesn't do something a certain way or behaves in a way that is not what I'm used to doesn't mean it's "weird" or "wrong". It's just different. And that's okay.

So even though it's quite possible that people who wear glasses indoors really aaaare just trying to look cool, there is still some truth behind the revelation my sunglasses made me have. I've been working on being less judgmental and having more of any open mind about people and situations for a long time, but it is something I want to continue improving on every day. There is a story behind every person that we don't always consider when we react towards them. It's time for me to really start appreciating everyone for their uniqueness and treating everyone with the same respect because even if something seems weird or ridiculous to me, there's likely a darn good reason for it.