Does a first impression give an accurate definition of a person or a situation?
While a lot of people may agree with this based on the common notion that first impressions matter a lot, I would say that it doesn't always work out like that for everyone or in every situation.
The man who owns the lounge very close to my house, my first encounter with him was bad, and from there, I concluded that he was actually like that. However, when another encounter happened, my thoughts about him changed.
Back when I didn’t have many power banks and didn’t run a generator regularly, we used to go to a corner of the lounge, actually an extension of the lounge, to charge our gadgets. The owner wasn’t always around; he came once in a while. On that particular night, he was around and saw us (a group of guys) crowded in the spot, charging our gadgets.
He walked towards us, stopped along the way, and then turned back. Just within a few minutes, the electricity supply to that area was cut off. We were really angry that night, saying all sorts of things about him, especially considering the fact that charging our gadgets wasn’t disturbing any activity in the lounge.
From that day, I began to see him as someone who wasn’t considerate at all. I mean, why would he stop us from charging our gadgets from a source that wasn’t interrupting anything?
But something happened the following year, about seven months after that incident, and my thoughts about the man changed.
He instructed the manager of his lounge to connect a different tap where people in the street could fetch water freely, because water is a major problem in the area. Most compounds don’t have boreholes, and the few that do usually keep them locked.
So this man could actually be this considerate?
Meanwhile, water is something that can easily run out, and the lounge could suffer when people in the street fetch large quantities. Also, water is a much more essential need compared to electricity when we measure them based on the needs of the people in the area.
This second impression completely canceled the first one I had about him.
Thanks for reading.
The photo used is mine