PreConceived Notions

A colleague of mine seeing me dressed in a jeans and shirt commented “Dress according to your age…jeans are for youngsters”. This actually fueled me to write about Preconceived notions that most people have in India.

It very evident that my friend has a preconceived idea  set in his mind that a man or a woman who are aged 50 and beyond cannot wear Jeans pants. Now what is a preconceived notion and how does it happen… well this starts right from tender age while your parents keep saying don’t do this or if you do this you will be gauged like this and so forth. These opinions of parents or peers are implanted in one’s mind and you have set answers to questions and that are considered as gospel truth.

Most people have the following preconceived thoughts or notions and it is very difficult to convince them that the same is not true…..…..

·         Blonde women are dumb

·         People who wear glasses are studious

·         Blacks are lazy & also most Virile

·         Jews will cheat you in business

·         Men with beards are Muslims

·         All Muslims are terrorists

·         Judge people before even knowing him / her

·         Girls in film / fashion industry have no morality

·         Girls with skimpy dress or revealing dress are the cause of rapes

·         Wife needs to work at home as the man is the bread winner

·         Older men should act their age & be mature

·         A woman cannot be bossing over you at work place

·         Women are bad drivers

The above list is not the entire list and it would go on for pages as we to have preconceived answers for all situations and settings around us.

Instead of judging a person or any other thing with preconceived notions or thoughts have an open frame of mind and gauge accordingly and I am sure you would find that preconceived notions are totally wrong and judgmental

If you readers have any thoughts to add about this please comment !!!!