Walking a Mile in Another Persons Shoes

     At first glance, our first instinct is to base an opinion on whatever it is we are seeing. Every human does. We could know nothing about the person, place or thing, and we would still instantly form a judgement about it. But as we start to learn more, our opinion can change. Or, we can also experience something that changes our perspective as well.  We begin to see things in a different light, and realize that first judgements can be wrong. 

     In the start of the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo believes he is in love with Rosaline. In Act 1, Scene 2, Romeo gets invited to the party, and sees that Rosaline is going to be there. Benvolio tells Romeo that this is the perfect opportunity to go and meet new girls. Romeo says, "One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun." Romeo believes that there is no match to Rosaline. He is in love with her and nothing can change that. In Act 1, Scene 5, Romeo attends the party. He sees Juliet from across the room and is instantly entranced. Rosaline vanishes from his mind and he says, "Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night." Romeo, who didn't even want to attend this party but only did because Rosaline was going to be there, just completely forgot about "the love of his life" in under 10 seconds. This just shows that after he had new insight into what else there was, his firstperspective  of love changed drastically. 

     In "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christophers Mom left him and his Dad to be with another man. She leaves Mr. Boone alone to raise Christopher, which can be challenging because he has "behavioural issues" as he says. On pages 52 and 53, in chapter 127, Mr. Boone and Christopher get in a fight because Mr. Boone finds Christophers book, and learns that he knows about the affair. Mr. Boone first grabs Christopher and he thinks to himself, "Mother had hit me sometimes because she was a very hot-tempered person, which means that she got angry more quickly than other people and she shouted more often. But Father was a more levelheaded person, which means he didn't get angry as quickly and he didn't shout as often." But then Mr. Boone hits Christopher. On page 68, in chapter 157, Christopher is reading the letters from his Mom. In one she says, "I'm not like your Father. Your Father was a much more patient person." But as the story continues, Mr. Boone becomes more short tempered with Christopher. When Mrs. Boone was around, she helped take care of Christopher so all the responsibilities were spilt equally. But after she left, Mr. Boone was left taking care of Christopher alone. He walks a mile in Mrs. Boones shoes. He realizes why Mrs. Boone got so angry and was so short tempered, because now he is becoming like that too.

     I have experienced walking a mile in another persons shoes myself. For two years I had a best friend that I did everything with. We hung out basically everyday, went shopping every weekend. and we were as close as sisters. When I got a boyfriend a few months ago, I had to start splitting my time between him and her. I also started getting close with other people, and I started hanging out with them too. My best friend was getting upset because things were changing and we didn't hang out as much as we used to. It was easy for me to say that she was over reacting, and didn't understand that I had other priorities too. We started to drift apart a bit, and when we tried to talk about it, we both started getting angry at eachother. I started hanging out with another friend because she had a boyfriend too so she understood what I was going through. But then as time went by, she started ditching me for her boyfriend. I got to truly experience what it's like to be in another persons situation. I felt so bad that I hadn't listened to what she had to say. I definitely wasn't putting a boy before her, but I also wasn't making time for her, which is exactly what started happening to me. Having been through that, I can personally say that walking a mile in another persons shoes really does change your perspective. 

     Sometimes once we have based an opinion on someone or something, that is what we believe to be true. Once you have actually "walked a mile in another persons shoes" you can see how first opinions really aren't everything, and sometimes it takes physically going through something to make you truly understand the situation.