Isn’t it funny how people identify themselves and others not only with their family situation but also with their occupation and work? There is always a certain image that you have in your mind and human tends to put himself and others in certain categories because it makes it easier to deal with each other. That is why, when you meet someone whom you don’t know, there are certain standard questions: Where are you from? What do you do for a living? How much do you earn?
You got your answers: He is from a small village, now lives in a one-room apartment in a big metropolis, is an IT student and earns some money from helping others with their computer problems. You already have him in a category now, only reading this sentence, don’t you? Another one: She is an art student in the most famous and posh university of the country, her parents bought her a sports car when she was eighteen and she does not do any job. Another stereotyped picture, right?
The funny thing is that these people themselves usually also try to fit into this category. The girl would not hang out at the shabby students’ café with the literature students. The IT boy may not go to choir for singing in between working on computer. Although maybe both would like to do exactly that, somewhere inside! However they are also bound to those categories because it just seems to make living easier if you fit in the scheme.
I would like to encourage everybody to think as less as possible in this kind of stereotypes. You probably cannot fully avoid it, there is always some kind of similarity but that is normal. However please get used to be free yourself and think of others as free beings! Do things that do not fit to ‘your category’ if you feel like it and do not assume that others would do that, too. Maybe you would even find some people who always wanted to do exactly that. You are you, you do not need to make your identity according to others or any stereotyped thinking. Get rid of such boundaries and enjoy your freedom to be yourself!
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No matter how well you think you know someone you really don’t know them at all. The essential person always lies out of reach.
What about your partner? Do you think after for example 40 years of marriage two people cannot know each other, even the essential and real being?I agree for an aquaintance and maybe even for friends, but when there is real love, I think you can really know someone!
I think you can love the essential person, but never really know them. People are never really “knowable”, because they’re always changing, and remain a mystery even to themselves.
I recall in high school that lots of kids desperately wanted to be “individuals.” They didn’t want to fit into any category so they would dress in their own strange ways or do weird things. But soon enough, they became a category of their own! It’s just human nature to categorize and stereotype. But I think as long as people are true to themselves and honor their deepest desires, then no category will be fulfilling.