Jeffery Dou

Mrs. Reeves

English I G7

1 April 2022

Write an essay explaining the importance of getting to know people before forming an opinion about them.

Rushing to judgment. It’s something that no one’s guilty of, and something that happens everywhere. You see it in social media, in school, in work and even in the home. When humans have just information about a person, they’ll hastily make some idea about that person that may not even be fully true. However, getting to learn and understand someone is far better than just creating some predetermined idea of who they are. This is because when you’re willing to know someone, they’ll be more willing to know you.

A very common phrase about this is “don’t judge a book by its cover.” But in the case of people, that’s simply not the case. People aren’t just books, they have their own needs, their own wants, their own opinions. So, when you show that you want to learn and understand a person, that person can see that you have a clear interest in them and don’t just think of them as a stranger. That makes them feel that they’re now willing to know you, and how you are as a person. A personal anecdote of this occurring is the time I got to know Yianni. Before I truly met Yianni, a classmate of mine, I didn’t think much of him, and he most likely didn’t think much of me. We operated in two separate worlds and were total strangers to each other. But then, as fate would have it, I ran into Yianni during dismissal, and decided to strike up a conversation and begin to know him properly. Because of this, Yianni wanted to properly know me, and we discovered that we shared a lot of similar interests and passions. Now, Yianni is a good friend of mine, even after we moved on from junior high and went to high school.

That’s the benefit of understanding someone before establishing a belief about them. If I had just kept quiet and not said anything, I wouldn’t have gained an eventual friend. People rushing to judgements will never fully disappear, but when you do the small act of getting to know someone, there’s a good chance that they’ll get to know you, and both of you will be better off.