Flashback!

October 21st, 2004
Humanities Diary Entry

...Here I am again, heading back to boring Westchester on the peaceful Metro-North. So peaceful sometimes that you start noticing things that you wouldn't notice on a New York City subway since you would be too preoccupied with someone robbing you of your belongings or trying to find a seat. Since I had already read the "Millenium" chapter that was assigned and "Dante's Inferno" was at home, my boredom increased at an alarming rate. My eyes start to shift from the window, tired of seeing tree after tree and the occasional deer to the people around me. Thought began to flow in my head as I "people-watched": Why does his mouth open so wide to eat one slice of pizza? Why is she wearing a mini-skirt in this cold? Why is he wearing a mini-skirt in this weather? Oooh, when's the last he took a shower?, etc...But then another thought hit me: I thought I looked normal, facial expression-wise and yet they probably thought the same about themselves, but here I was, judging everything about them. How do I know the same critical thoughts are not going through their heads about me or each other? What made my perception of normal better than theirs? What makes me so special that my opinion stands above all of theirs? We always judge before we even stop and examine what's wrong with our own selves. This is a sad truth that has brought conflicts, inflicted violence and shed blood through time and country. Can we honestly say we will ever learn? From where I see this is going, I highly doubt it...