So, I was having a talk with someone recently about people’s perception… or that is really what it boiled down to. Here is the story… they went on vacation and while there stopped in to a dealership to look at cars (they were killing time waiting on their next endeavor for the day). This wasn’t just any dealership; it was a Bentley dealership. I am sure the average price of the cars were $200k+. Anyway, the salesman was looking down his nose at them the entire time. She said it was the only day on their vacation that they encountered bad weather so they were dressed very conservatively i.e. jeans, tennis shoes, etc. to battle the rainy/muddy day. She sat back and watched the salesman’s arrogance and how put out he was with these “commoners” looking at this car and asking ridiculous questions on something they clearly could not afford. If he had only known, they could have written him a check for it and been in and out in about 10 minutes. She even declared this to her husband in front of the salesman (who I am sure was shocked to learn his arrogance had not hidden his disgust with them wasting his time). My question is why do people do this?

I have always said treat people with respect no matter what you think their stature (or yours) may be in life. Treat the CEO with the same respect as the janitor! Everyone has a purpose and just because you think yours is not as important (or if you are on the flip side of that and think yours is more important) does not give you a right to think someone is beneath you.

That leads me into a slightly different thought process from there (hang on this is how my brain works and it can sometimes be a crazy ride… one that will have you retracing your steps to figure out how in the world you got here… but I digress). I read a “meme” that said, “Sometimes it is not who you are that holds you back but who you think you’re not.”. That sent off alarms in my head that rang true! Being the kind of person I am I get lost in the horse world all too often (read that as hopelessly devoted aka CRAZY horse lady lol). I think that is one place that it seems that the people involved must put lottery winners’ checkbooks to shame and here I am… the poor Amateur trying to find my way in the waves of super talented horse and rider combinations with endless checkbooks (or even Mom and Dad’s money). But that meme got me to thinking… and it is true. Sometimes, in all aspects of life, we stand in our own way. Who are we to judge where we do and don’t deserve to be. If we work at it and keep pushing forward we deserve to be anywhere that the next person does. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy! Imagine where we could be if we just believed in ourselves a little more.

I know the two scenarios are not the same but it just makes me think along the same lines… Why are people so quick to judge and why do we let people’s judgements have so much effect on us? And let’s not throw stones without owning up to our own demons… why do we judge so much? I know I have been guilty of this on more than one occasion. I get irritated with someone lack of knowledge in an instance and think to myself “this is why you are doing >insert mediocre job description here<”.

I guess this is just a post to get you to thinking. Give people a break! You never know what their struggle is that day. Give your barista at Starbucks a smile and tell them they are fabulous (no matter how long it took to get your coffee)! Don’t judge someone based on who or what they are or look like today! It could be the CEO assisting the janitor for the day or it could be someone with an extremely heavy burden to bear. You never know where you will be tomorrow.

Don’t forget to smile! Stay Fabulous!

Kim K.