we all know the saying, “never judge a book by its cover.”

sadly, few of us follow this mantra, and we judge everyone and
everything without an attempt to know and understand them.
we have all been victims and perpetrators of hate, criticism, and ugliness.
we have all opened our mouths seconds too soon and have
forgotten that we are human, just like everyone else
struggling to survive in this world.
life is difficult enough without the
harsh words of our peers.
we fight instead of love.
we push away instead of understand.
we falsely believe that we are superior to others because of our looks, our status, our upbringings, or
just our grandiose mentalities.
we often forget how, without the help of those we criticize, our society
would not stand the way it
does today, even if it is not apparent at the time.
we forget that, as much as we push people away,
it is the same people we push away that
want to understand us the most.
but we are scared.
we are scared to lose the mask we so
meticulously crafted for ourselves.
we are scared to become vulnerable because
we have been hurt before.
we are scared to trust anyone but ourselves
because we believe they will never understand us.