Do Judge A Book By Its Cover
A while ago, I posted a story on my Instagram about my physiotherapy amidst my ankle injury. You know… just a lil’ share, thought maybe “someone” is interested *iykwim. The story more or less looks like this:
But because of that, suddenly I received so many DM’s from my friends sending “oh my god” and wishing me “get well soon”. Don’t get me wrong, I feel blessed but… it’s just physiotherapy you guys 😂, my ankle was merely just being “crammed” by an expensive machine. The painful part is already over months ago, the therapy is only for “preparing” and “restoring” my ankle’s capabilities back to how it was.
But I do get why my friends react like that, it’s because it looks like I just got into an accident cause my feet were bandaged. Even though I’ve already stated that I’m in a physiotherapy clinic, I doubt they read the description and just jump to a conclusion based on only what they “saw”. I also believe that most of them don’t even know about physiotherapy, heck I just know what it is after I experience it myself. But not a single one of them asks what it is, it’s only “omg” and “gws”. It’s all because of the picture of me laying in a bed with a bandaged ankle.
We often see this behavior when people jump to a quick conclusion based on partial information. For example, many of us must have been a victim of clickbait. So there are two things that I picked up based on this experience: first impression matter and something is not always like what it seems.
1. First impression matter
The expression “dress to impress” is valid. It’s a way to present yourself so that people can get a quick glimpse of who you are. Dress formally if you go to a work interview, it shows that you’re serious about the job. Wear a collared shirt if you go to a reception, to show respect to the bride and groom. By dressing appropriately, you show the people that you care about being there.
I used to say: “I don’t care what I wear”, now I know that is ignorant. You need to be aware of what you wear (damn that’s a bar) based on the occasion. Why? cause first impression matter.
How come someone knows who you are if they just met you? People will judge you based on the first impression: what you wear, how you behave, your gestures, etc. It’s what you show to the public.
That’s why my friend didn’t pay attention to the text in my story, cause the image I presented already gives such a strong impression. They overlooked the fact that I’m just in physiotherapy. That’s how strong a first impression is.
2. Something is not always like what it seems
Now, this is a follow-up to the previous point. Yes, first impression matter — but sometimes… it doesn’t depict the actuality. Maybe you have encountered a woman once with a strong structural jawline and seldom smiles, then thought: “she must be bitchy”. Turns out after knowing her, she’s so fun to hang with. It’s her first impression that makes you think like that.
Sometimes… something doesn’t always seem what it is to be. A well-versed candidate in an interview sometimes doesn’t perform in the future, your handsome friend might be gay, or maybe your strict boss giving you hell cause they care about you and want you to grow. We have to get to know first before we conclude.
It’s okay to judge the first time, as human beings we can’t help it. But I think we shouldn’t stop there, just like my friends who stop the conclusion in the picture only. We need to try to understand them and get to know them more. So that we gain a bigger and clearer context, then it’s safe for us to draw a complete conclusion. Cause something is not always like what it seems.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover”, I don’t agree with it. I do think the cover is important, it needs to be judged. It’s one of the aspects that caught your attention, the reason why you look at the book. Cause what? First impression matter. But we shouldn’t stop there. We need to pick it up, buy it, and read it before we can deem whether it’s good or bad. Judging them by only their cover is unjust. So I would like to propose a revision to the expression. Let’s change “don’t just a book by its cover”, to “don’t judge a book by only its cover”.
There you go, I hope you enjoy reading this story.
Regards — ferzos
