When we finally decided to move to South Florida from South Jersey I had been working in New York City for close to 10 years so I had an idea of what to expect from the local S. Florida population. Loud, Aggressive, Pushy (not the entire population of course but many of them were repatriates from the N.Y. area.)
In addition there were a large number of..uh,oh...Seniors...and you know what their reputation is,...cranky,opinionated,loud boorish...that combination coupled with my pre-formed judgement gave me very low expectations for our new environment.
So why move?... #1 of course, the cold weather. As we got older it became more difficult to tolerate. Then there were the amazing number of N.Y. Deli's and other great places to eat. In South Jersey they didn't even know what a real N.Y. Deli was. In order to find one in those days you had to travel to..well..New York.
Home values at that time were excellent (although later, prices rose dramatically.
All year round you could play tennis, golf, swim, jog and other outdoor activities.
However, there was the issue of the residents.
But...shortly after we moved down here, much to my surprise, I found out how perceptions could fool you. I was diagnosed with a form of Parkinsons that affected only my legs so I couldn't walk without a cane. Carrying a cane introduced me to a different breed of Senior. Much to my shock, whenever I approached a door, they rushed to assist me. They were solicitous. caring, asking if I needed any help,
some insisting they hold the door until I was safely inside.
Once I encountered a rough-looking individual wearing a head scarf and looking all too menacing.He ran at me & I thought I'd wind up in a hospital emergency ward.
BUT..HE WAS EVEN MORE CARING THAN THE REST,
.......
Talk about being completely wrong!!Then I realized...they were speaking with that same accent!!
So I learned about brain-wiring. My brain had been wired to dislike a person with a certain accent. To such a degree that as soon as I heard it I not only disliked that person but an entire group who spoke with that accent. I learned that I must get beyond that and rewire my brain to look for a person's behaviour, his inner self...not what kind of accent he or she spoke with.
When my wife pointed out to me that I had best friends who spoke with a heavy accent
at first I refused to believe her. Once I realized she was correct I proceeded with the brain re-wiring job. I still have somewhat of a problem getting past the accent to get to the inner core but when I asked myself if I was a prejudiced person, my rewiring job kicked in.
Now I must admit...I feel better about myself...try it, you'll like it.
Seniiorblog
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment