Reading Between the Lines

We’ve all heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover. While this adage is partially true—you can’t judge a book’s content by its cover—you can certainly determine a lot of other things from its cover. For instance, when browsing in a bookstore, you can assess whether the book in front of you has been handled by many, few, or no potential readers; and whether it is old or new; expensive or cheap. Similarly, you can determine a great deal about a person just by objectively looking and observing her. Of course, it is odious to judge and to react to people by the color of their skin, their physical stature, hair, height, weight, body, or facial appearance—things they can do little or nothing about, and that have nothing to do with their character. These erroneous and dangerous perceptions breed prejudice and hatred, the cancer of our society. Furthermore they tell you nothing at all about what the person is like. On the other hand, things people can control—the way they act and comport themselves—are appropriate ways to evaluate people. By observing the way people comport themselves and their bodily and facial actions, you can learn a great deal about them, especially in terms of how they relate to you.
When you learn to objectively read between the lines, you will see things about the other person you never noticed before. This information often gives you the added advantage during your interactions, because you no longer merely “look.” Now you will see the truth—what is actually going on.