"That's an ugly sculpture." I told my husband as we looked through the pictures he brought back from his trip to Chicago last spring. "It looks like a shiny bike helmet."
I was ready to move on, dismissive of the ugly, new-fangled sculpture.
"Actually," he pointed out, "It's quite amazing. As you get closer, it reflects all the buildings and becomes really beautiful."
He flipped ahead to this picture:
He was right. Looking closer at the sculpture and understanding it within the context of its surroundings made all the difference in my appreciation for its beauty.
How often are we like that in life? How many times do we dismiss out-of-hand another person based on our initial first impression?
I've done that with friendships sometimes. My initial impression of a person will be something like, She seems nice enough, but we probably don't have anything in common. Luckily, I'm a pretty nice person, so I've gotten to know some people out of simple politeness. Some of them have turned out to be my best friends. I'm glad I didn't let a false first impression spoil some of my most enriching friendships
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