I learned a long time ago that perception does not equate to reality. Our society is built on nothing but perception. We look at pictures daily via social media and believe what we see based off of a single moment in time. We are all guilty of making false assumptions based on little evidence. Nothing irks me more than people who feel they know you based off of a social media post, meme or a brief encounter.

Perception is dangerous in my opinion. It is far too easy to accept everything at face value and in doing so, we become lazy in our relationships. We do not take the time to learn, understand and most importantly, accept one another’s differences. It also places the person who is being perceived at an unfair advantage because the perceptions generally come with unrealistic expectations that are based on ideals that do not really exist. Yes, that is a mouthful, but it is the truth. We need to stop projecting and begin to focus on everyone’s true attributes. We all have many sides to our personality and for me personally, it is frustrating and annoying to be pigeon-holed into the many false perceptions of who I am that exist today. Granted, I do not show all sides of me but then again, I am not always able to, because it is simply too irritating to try to change one’s warped view of who you are.

I am deeply saddened at the state of our world. A lot of times it is so much easier and peaceful to stay far removed from it all. The message today for what it is worth, is to stop judging and start learning to relate more and stop making ASS-umptions about everyone else. Stop looking only at the surface and stop the false pretenses you maintain with others. We need to work towards more meaningful relationships with one another and embrace our differences with love, kindness and peace.

Until next time, keep those you love very, very close.

~Author Mara Prose