Mockingbird

Odd title choice, I know. But I promise it fits. Have you ever read "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Chances are you have. While a lot of people feel it is overrated and boring, it is one of my favorite books. It depresses me a bit that TKAM was the only book that Harper Lee ever really published. She had such a way with words and tackled issues that were plaguing society at the time. One of the lessons that Scout learns throughout the novel is acceptance. Not judging someone before getting to know them. Boo Radley is the perfect example of someone who is desperately misunderstood. What does this have to do with my life right now? Well, I'm glad you asked. One of my guilty pleasures is watchin Biggest Loser. I love seeing the physical and mental transformations that the contestants go through each week. I consider myself to be pretty fit, but sometimes I wonder if I would be able to make it through the workouts they go through not only physically but mentally. I'm almost dead certain that Jillian Michaels would give me a wrong look and I would instantly burst into tears. She terrifies me. But that is off topic. I realized last night while watching that I kept saying that I don't like this person or that person. It hit me that I was doing exactly what drives me crazy about other people. I was determining how I feel about someone when I don't know them. While I may not like their attitudes or actions, I don't know them personally. This set off a chain reaction in my mind of how many "public figures" I have said I dislike and how many times I've read the trash people talk about celebrities as if they actually know them. Take Taylor Swift for example. Yes, her songs drive me absolutely crazy and I would rather listen to anything else than her singing, but I have no right saying that I don't like HER. I don't know her. While we are all entitiled to our opinions, it would benefit our lives so much more if we focused on positive things and stopped judging others that we have no contact with. Much like Scout in TKAM, we should just give others who are different a chance.