(Yes, 7, not 17 or even 37.)

With the occasional entry to this blog as an example, I like to think I sometimes look at things differently from the way they are usually seen. But if that is so, I also need to accept/admit that I am way slower to reach some other conclusions, or accept common wisdom that everyone else learned and understood when they were, like, 7.

I always thought I knew what folks meant by Don't judge a book by its cover. Or at least, I guess I just used a narrow definition of it that had more to do with blacks or minorities in general, which in retrospect, seems kind of racist or maybe just condescending or patronizing on my part in a small way: Yes, yes, they are just like me! I like to think THAT is common widom now, tho that's probably naive.

But at some point, I wish I could remember the exact moment, in the past few weeks, I realized it also includes fat, nerdy, ugly, lopsided people of all random coverings. I realized I'd be much more drawn, for instance, to a person at a party who I found attractive or who had some sort of seeming gravitas. Or I'd look at someone on the street who would generally be affixed the technical term of Loser, and immediately discount anything they might have to add to my general wherewithal or understanding of the world.

Also in retrospect, I'd like to apologize to all those losers...equally interesting people. In the end, I wonder if I've hurt the people I treated so brusquely or myself more, not just from a karma standpoint, but on all the knowledge and insight I've missed and avoided absorbing.