2 Minutes To Tell Time

Very recently, my mom started redecorating her house with special emphasis on the living room.  She has replaced the furniture, totally redone the fireplace mantle, purchased a colorful rug to liven up the overall feel of the space, and finally purchased a decorative wall clock to replace the 1' diameter clock that has been hanging for at least a decade.

Now, the clock.  While it is appealing to look at as decoration...the overall use of the clock is questionable.  The face of the clock is black wrought iron decoration with real openings that allow you to see the wall behind the clock.  The hands of the clock are also black, and finally the numbers on the clock are black roman numerals.  Mom asked me the other day what time it was and my response was, "I don't know, I'm still reading the clock!" My dad has similar issues so I am certain it is more than just poor time telling skills.

After you look at the clock for a minute or two (probably exaggerated a little) you can decipher what it says.  Unfortunately, I haven't seemed to LEARN the clock, so each time I look at the clock I have to study it anew to determine the time.

People are a lot like this clock.  We see people, and most of the times they are striving to look acceptable if not their best, but we often fail to take a deeper look into who a person is to determine what they are about, or how they are doing, or perhaps what is going on in their life.  Far to often we look at a person and unconsciously or consciously super impose stereotypes and then neatly slide them into their respective slots in our minds.  We recognize them for their appearance, but fail to take the time to understand who they are.  Even more so, if by chance we do spend the time to get to know a person, I believe it is a sad mistake to assume that what you have seen in the past is who that person will continue to be.  We should be ready and willing to get to know people with each encounter.  Each conversation should be a "new read."  That is how you get to know someone.  You don't make assumptions about who they are, you take the time to allow them to continue to tell you.