One of my high school classmates told me a funny story taking place in his university. One day, several guys went for a lecture together in the morning. After settling down, they found a piece of paper – a note for reserving the seat for anther lecture- stuck on the desk. Normally, nothing special would happen afterwards. This time, however, due to the contribution of some creative guys, a new version came into being.
After investigating the soft handwriting on the paper, one of the guys (let me just call him A) drew the conclusion that it must belong to a girl, and his peers all agree with him. Inspired by the approval from his friends, A came up with an idea and put it into practice with out hesitation - he wrote down a telephone number on the paper. Moreover, he added “I am lonely” ahead of the number to avoid confusion. Driven by the “attribute of self-sacrificing”, A gave this precious opportunity to his friend; the number he wrote down belonged to another guy (let me call him B). Instead of being annoyed, B participated in the adventure willingly. Actually the guy did not look forward to any response, what they did was just the entertainment for themselves.
When I heard this part of the story, I didn’t though there would be any subsequence either, because few girls would respond to this kind of massage.
To my astonishment, maybe also to the guys’ astonishment, the “girl” called! (Just as what I said: few girls would respond, so the one who respond probably was not a girl.) What B heard was another guy’s voice. Image how embarrassed and disappointed B was during the conversation! Unable to face the reality, B even went to the class room right after the phone call to check if the one who sat there was the one made the call. However, nothing was changed.
All this was caused by the concept that a certain kind of handwriting could only belong to a female. The origin of this concept is the stereotype that females always have a meticulous nature, which would be reflected on their handwriting. It is true that some of the characteristic traits and certain abilities are more common in one gender, but it does not mean that we can label every individual of that gender with those “typical” features. Sometimes we tended to judge others by stereotypes; if they did not fit, we might consider them abnormal. This misconcept may lead to irritation for both sides.
Perhaps what we should do is suspending judgment, and therefore reducing misunderstanding. When one’s features and abilities are accepted, he or her could have a larger chance to take advantage of them.
It's an intriguing story for me. There are lots of misunderstings around us every day. Some are embarrassing and some are quite fun. We try not to be misunderstood or misunderstand others.That's life and misunderstandings are part of life.
ReplyDeleteWell, the a in your school must be so naughty, and the b may be so lonely. This is a funny story about your campus life. Maybe we men have a bad handwriting is not a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting story. In my opinion, maybe the B is really lonely. Howerve, B is a brave man too, who is willing to sacrifice himself.
ReplyDeleteJust as you said,sometimes, we cannot judge others by stereotypes, which may cause misunderstanding.
That was funny. :) Stereotypes are a really superficial way of understanding people.
ReplyDeleteThe story and your thoughts were well-expressed. Read it through for spelling errors.
Under this circumstance, I would rather take a risk. Life is full of choices and risks. If you do not choose to risk, you may never succeed. So whether this is a misunderstanding of stereotype does not matter, because you can never know what will happen until it really happens. Why don't we choose to risk and enjoy the uncertainty?
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