First Impressions

First impressions fascinate me. Humans make judgement calls on another person within seconds of seeing them - no words have to be spoken, no interactions had- we simply see and we judge. Sure, some of us are a little more forgiving and open to having those opinions change, but we all do it - it's in our psyche.

The reason I've been pondering this is that today there were two people in particular who made 'first impressions' on me... and then totally blew those impressions apart in the time that followed.

The first was my first aid instructor for the day. I walked into my course and was greeted by a jovial irishman who smiled and joked his way through introductions and housekeeping. First impression: Lovely irishman, paramedic, all round nice guy. Throughout the course it was revealed that he had served in the British Army for 20 years, and when his 'real life' examples started being of roadside bombs, land mines, and administering CPR to an infant while under fire I realised that this man would have experienced things I would only ever see in movies and nightmares.

The second was the man you see above playing the piano. The Arts Centre has placed 24 pianos around the streets of Melbourne for their 'Play Me, I'm Yours' campaign. I saw this guy - long hair, black clothes, piercings- approach the piano and, I'm ashamed to admit, thought 'Oh here we go.' Then he played. And he was fantastic. And I mentally put myself back in my place and chided myself for judging a book by its cover.

Later I started wondering what it would be like to have a beer in the pub with the Ex Commando Irish Paramedic and the Metal Head Piano Man. No doubt they would have amazing stories to tell. I think we all do, if we just get past those first impressions.

Also, today I began back-blipping for my trip to South America, You can find it here.

Good day Blippers :)