Learn to Earn It

I happened to come across an article on Yahoo News just a moment ago and it was talking about 2 criteria that people use to judge us when we first meet them. These criteria, proposed by a Harvard psychologist named Amy Cuddy, are trustworthiness and competence.

The article could be found here:
http://news.yahoo.com/harvard-psychologist-says-people-judge-153500132.html?bcmt=1453051695646-58b17286-2a56-405c-941b-9cfdc7f87445.

But that's not what I wanna talk about, because the article didn't leave me as strong of a relatedness as the one written by a person named Erik. In the comment section, Erik wrote, and I would like to put in bold the phrases that speak to me the most:

__

Everyone has good and bad qualities in them. Nobody is perfect. Our lives and our minds change moment to moment. Even though you think that this person you encountered has good qualities and you become connected with them for years, they can easily become your enemy or someone they didn't seem to be. It goes to say that, once you meet someone, always have an open mind and be accepting to even the not-so-perfect people, because they might be the inspiration and friends that you were looking for.

When I meet someone, I look into their soul and always consider that everyone has the potential for greatness and goodness. But don't get me wrong; sometimes in the back of my mind, I feel like slapping someone silly for his/her arrogance. But that's something I understand and agree with and don't result in taking such actions. Be kind to one another, regardless of race, religion, and gender. Scientifically, we all have the same organs, flesh, skin, and - in a sense - equal to one another. People may have better situations than others', but they choose and create that life for themselves. Nothing is really handed down to you, because you have to work to get what you want - mentally and physically.

__

It's been quite a while for me to find such a long comment like this that I could agree with everything being said. I feel grateful for Erik's comment because it helps me think back deeply into my soul and mind, asking myself whether I had been kind enough and accepting enough to imperfect people, imperfect moments, and even imperfect sides of myself. I love how he said that we should be accepting to imperfection, yet also remember to work hard to get what we want. In other words, it reminds me to continuously work on imperfect sides of myself to earn a better life, because it's not given free to anyone - and by free I mean in terms of more than just currency.

On a side notes, I'm also grateful to learn a new phrase of expression, and that is to "slap someone silly." I thought that he had made a typo, because he had in some parts of his comment - which I already corrected in the one that I wrote down above. But something told me that I should look up the phrase, and so I did, and so I realized that it wasn't a typo but rather a real phrase of saying to slap someone when he/she least expects it and till he/she gets dizzy.

So yea, I have learnt a new phrase of expression today ^__^