First Impressions

Jeffrey and I had yet another "first day of school" yesterday as we trudged up the stairs to round two of our first year in medical/dental school. In some ways I was excited. Most of my classes ended at the end of last semester, so this semester provides an almost-clean slate.

I spent some time thinking about first impressions before I went to school. First days at school are all about first impressions. That's the reason why everyone wears their new clothes, gets a haircut, shines their shoes, plucks their unibrow, etc...

I remember reading somewhere that a person makes his/her judgement of another's character within the first 15 seconds of meeting him. (I don't really recommend making these "snap" judgements, but it seems to be almost an unconscious behavior for me.)

In one of my classes on that first day, I got a really bad impression of one of my professors literally within the first few seconds of his class. He came into the room with two big boxes of notes that we would pick up to study during the course. He set them down on a table at the front and so one of my friends picked one up and started to head to his seat. Before he had gone a few steps the professor said loudly, "Uh-uh-uh...you can't have those yet! I'll tell you when you can pick them up." My friend apologized and quickly put the packet back on the table, but only a few seconds later, before my friend had even gotten to his seat, the professor said, "Ok, now you can pick them up."

I know it's not that big of a deal, but it just seemed like the professor was on a little power trip, you know? Making the students sit and wait until the exact moment that the mighty professor says, "Jump" and we all do.

Of course I'll give the professor another chance. After all, first impressions are often wrong--they're made in 15 seconds! In fact, I even thought my sweet husband was a big dork when I first met him, but now I know him to be the loving, cool, and only sparingly goofy man in my life.

This little tale is a good reminder, though--just like the song we sang in Bible class says, "Oh, be careful little mouth what you say!"