The Book And Its Cover
"Don’t judge my brother, he is not a book!" was what Melanie Marquez said in defense of her brother, Joey Marquez when caught in a scandal once.
We love to judge the book by its cover. Admittedly, I do it all the time ^_^ We tend to typecast people into certain groups such as "those call center people", "ahh, the weird ones a.k.a geeks", "them socialites", "oh, the pokpoks", etc (I particularly didn’t put any adjectives coz I might get shot but you do know how we coin these groups *wink*)
But this doesn’t mean I stick those labels on them forever. I learned to become more open about people when I knew Ms. VERONICA DE LEON, the then Ms. Gordo, a.k.a Ron, Bitan, Vero.
(How’s that for an intro, Ron? *grins sheepishly*)
When I first met her, I immediately said to myself we can never be friends. She’s the exact opposite of me. Downright gorgeous, fair, tall, SKINNY, has long, straight hair, sexy and oh did I mention SKINNY? 
She’s chic and elegant. She’s just plain intimidating and I didn’t like her. (I’ll let you in on a secret. I didn’t like her that much too coz the boy I had a crush on then had a crush on her. Potential rival. A VERY POTENT RIVAL tsk tsk tsk)
But then it’s one of those protocols at the office where you have to get along with people, yada-yada-yada. And since there were few young ones at our office then, I was forced to befriend her. Surprisingly, she became a breath of fresh air to us. To me, especially. She opened me to worlds that I’ve never bothered entering to. Never entertaining the thought that someday… I just might be like her.
(Don’t get me wrong. I might have dreamt of having her figure and height but I do know how to tell from daydream and reality :-D)
One of the best lessons this great woman taught me is never judge a person by the way he or she looks. She told me, I might put a label on that girl as a prostitute but do I really know what her past was? What hardship has she gone through and is going through? NO. All I see is the face she reveals to the world.
But then, there are also those nice-looking, pretentious people and yet deep inside they’re just plain vicious, mean creatures. Oh, how these people hurt your expectation of them becoming a true friend 
While old habits die hard and I still love labeling people, I try not to close my doors on them when they offer friendship. Fortunately for me, I am Ms. Congeniality (yeah, right :-D) so it really isn’t that hard for someone to be my friend.
Everybody deserves a chance. And in truth, we don’t really have the right to judge someone even if we’ve come to know them personally. As Ms. Marquez had said, we shouldn’t judge coz that person is not a BOOK.
**This article is dedicated to you, Ron. Thank you for gracing my life. Love you, friend *hugs tight*
shucks sweet! i never thought someone could still manage to make me blush the way u just did! as grateful as I am to have been the subject of this accolade, I feel that it is my obligation to expose my true character hehe! unang una sa lahat, I am not THAT great. Just like any mortal, i’ve had my share of moronic lapses as well. hellofalot in fact! i used to be a judgie who hung out with judgie friends. it wasn’t until all the tables were turned on me that i realized how damaging it could be. i thought that was the end of my indignity. and since that last time, i’ve done a lot of growing up. i even managed to score me great great friends!:) friends like sweet who never hesitates to hit my head with blatant reminders to knock some sense into my hardened skull hehe! oh, and pls scratch the part where sweet rambled on about my supposed ‘attributes’. she’s clearly high from something when she wrote this. i am as statistically average as they come. love lang nya talaga ko hehe!
thank you sweet for being a constant source of strength and happiness in my life. i love you too dear! i’m counting 50 more years with you!:)
Ron — July 24, 2007 @ 11:48 pm