Hurray! Here is the first official post of July! Wow, time sure does seem to be moving by quickly. Here it is already July 10th. But God is still good. So, I know this may sound like an amusing question, but have you ever looked at people and said, "hmm, you remind me of an animal?" Alright, so I know that is not the most flattering thing to say to somebody (and I hope I wouldn't ever say that to somebody unless I knew them extremely well). I guess the thought comes to mind though because of a cartoon I used to watch of the beloved classic "The Wind in the Willows". I haven't seen that cartoon in years, but in that rendition there is a mole, who is incredibly gentle and kind, but whose physiological features are quite unique. He wears glasses, is a little humped in his back, and is incredibly soft-spoken and meek. Now I know this may not seem flattering, and I am in no ways trying to come across as insulting in anyway, but I have a friend who reminds me of that character in the cartoon.
I think it amusing to consider that what we often recognize in an animal is simply what we have seen or remember from our childhoods. Perhaps the mole in the cartoon of the "Wind in the Willows" is an accurate representation of what a real mole looks like, and then again maybe not. But what I have in my mind how a mole looks is what I saw when I was younger. This could be a sobering consideration for what our children see on the screen, or it may provide fodder for us to discuss with our children about the reality of what is on tv and what is in fact real life. This was one of the insights from counseling classes. Children are often unable to recognize what is reality from fiction when they are younger. They automatically tend to believe whatever they see is true, when if it is on tv, it may not be.
Tangents abound in this post, but maybe you can start to look at your friends in a new light?! (chuckle) But make sure you keep it to yourself as I'm not sure they would understand where you are coming from or what you really mean. Okay, one last thought here. It is interesting how we view other people. Most of the time our perception of them is totally inaccurate and we can only know the real them if we talk to them and take the time to get to know them. After all, first impressions can never be done over. (not my own original thought)