Originally Posted By TomSawyer Was there a time when you let go of a preconceived notion or a prejudice about something or someone? When you let go, did anything change in your opinion about that person or thing? How do you feel about that person or thing now?
Originally Posted By TomSawyer We have an IS employee who is in his fifties, speaks with a heavy eastern European accent, and who dresses in inexpensive, poorly fitting clothes. It is sometimes difficult to talk to him about computer problems because of the language barrier, and because of his accent he sounds abrupt and a little put out all the time. One day he was in the office fixing my computer, and I asked him where he was from. He told me that he was from Poland. We started chatting how long he'd been in the states and what he'd done before he came over, and I found out that he'd been a Polish Naval officer during the Cold War, pretty highly ranked, and that he had been involved in something other than sea duty. (He's never said what he did to this day, but he worked with computers at a time when the Warsaw Pact countries didn't use them for much at all.) His edges softened a little, and I found out that this guy was one of the most interesting people that I work with. He is also one of the friendliest, but I was misinterpreting his accent and professional demeanor for a lack of intelligence and a chip on his shoulder. I've found that one of the worst prejudices I've had was in thinking that a lack of ability to speak fluent English was a sign of a lack of competence in a job.
Originally Posted By pecos bill When I was a child, I thought the Human race was a good and decent thing, growing up changed that notion. Most of us want to be that way, and perhaps some of us are, but as a whole, there is a lot not to like.
