As has become our Saturday morning tradition lately, Michelle & I meet up at the gym for Body Pump at 9, work ourselves into a sweat, by 9:30 feel like we’re going to fall over in a dead heap, and then at 10 put away our weights, bar, mat, step, and risers and head over to Capanna for coffee and a protein bar.  (Yes, so far we’ve been able to resist the mocha and scones.  Miraculous, I know.)  


Today our conversation veered in the deep direction when we started talking about some of the classifications that we put on people.  We talked about how one person’s experience at one time can play a huge impact on how they unconsciously react at another time.  This could be good or bad.  Good, for example, was that people had warned my sister and I that Parisians were rude.  When we stayed in Paris, however, we were treated so kindly that we came away thinking that Parisians are the nicest people ever!  The opposite must have been true though for someone else.  


White versus black, male versus female, blue collar versus white collar, democrat versus republican, conservative versus liberal, blonde versus brunette, the list goes on and on and on.  


I walked away feeling challenged to live my life with a more conscious effort to not place people in boxes.  First impressions, they say, can never be replaced.  I choose instead to follow the advice of Abraham Lincoln:  “I don’t like that man.  I must get to know him better.”