Personal Narrative: Judging People

I have always been taught to judge people based on their actions rather than their appearance, and this was a lesson that was completely reinforced by the house I lived in, in which I grew up. As kids, if any of us even remotely suggested that we were focused on someone 's looks, we were immediately punished and reminded that there is no way to know a person based on what he or she looked like, but rather it is important to know the heart inside the body. Making snap judgments based on appearance was definitely not acceptable in our household. This was difficult for kids, since young people often judge people based on first impressions, which generally involve their physical appearance. Nevertheless, as an adult, it became as clear as day to …show more content…
Both Kelly and I were thrilled, not only to have a day out of the office, but to spend it together with the bonus of learning skills that would make us both more marketable. It was the first time that I had ever been out of the office with Kelly, and I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with her since most of the other people in the office would have given their right arm to spend such concentrated time with her. On the day of the workshop, I met her at the office and we left together in my car, after Kelly entertained everyone with stories about what had gone on at home the night before. Her dog had been sprayed by a skunk, and her story was very vivid and hilarious. We said our goodbyes, and went off on our …show more content…
I became very quiet, because for the first time ever, I thought I needed to be careful about saying anything because I did not want to reinforce her profane and aggressive behavior. Nevertheless, despite my lack of participation in her verbal abuse, when we got out of the car and walked into the restaurant, she spotted the people from the other car and began to talk about them in a loud voice. It was a couple and their two children, and because they had dark complexions, Kelly actually referred to them using a racial slur, "greasy Mexicans", which shocked me to no end. It was not clear that the family was from Mexico, nor did they appear to be anything resembling a term like "greasy." Because I was in shock, I said very little, but unfortunately this only seemed to encourage Kelly to take the matter on for the both of