In God, a Motorcycle, and the Open Road, Chapter 3 told how I pulled into Groton, Connecticut, looking for a bar to view Nixon’s resignation during Watergate. If you have the book, pull out Chapter 3 to get the story in detail, but briefly, this long-haired hippie biker walked into what looked like a redneck bar, realized he better get out of Dodge, reversed course only to be accosted by a burly guy at the other end of the dark hallway, became VERY concerned, only to discover it wasn’t a burly guy, but my own reflection in a mirror. Yeah, one tough biker!
Then in 2019 Sheila and I toured the northeast, from New Hampshire down to DC. A lot had changed, my two-lane road into Groton became Interstate 95, but as we approached the town I pulled off to try the business route. The original highway! I found a building that COULD have been the Grotto, but like I said, things change. Fortunately, a mail carrier came along, so I asked if this was the Grotto. Taken aback, he said, “The Grotto? Were you a local? It’s not been called the Grotto for decades, but this isn’t it. Go one block down. Same family still runs it, they now call it Christopher’s.”
Well, I found the Grotto, met the family member who now runs it, and recounted my story to her. She laughed, “You should have hung around. They weren’t rednecks, they just didn’t recognize you. They probably would have bought you a beer!” And honestly, that made the story even better. Not only did I scare myself, but that fear cost me a free beer.
First impressions can easily lead us astray. Better safe than sorry when traveling alone, but it caused me to ponder how we can minimize the dangers of those false initial evaluations.
1 Be aware of how our past experiences shape our perceptions. Two days before, a cop in Rochester stopped me just to hassle a biker, and wanted to arrest me. The desk sergeant chewed him out, but I walked into the Grotto a bit leery. We call what I did prejudice—I pre-judged the bar by a recent experience.
2 Give people a chance—unless we find huge warning signs. God doesn’t call us to be stupid. But I never gave the guys in the bar a chance to buy me a beer, because I assumed they had bad motives. Jesus encouraged us to not look on initial outward appearance, but to take the time to look inside.
3 Gather as much information as we can. I like the Proverbs passage that one man gives his side and seems right…until the other speaks. The principle means we take some time, when we can, to see the entirety of the situation. I gave them one look, and lost a beer.
I suspect the underlying issue may be, do we desire to know the truth? That can take some work.
Kick Starting the Application
Think of a time when you judged a person or situation too quickly, to your detriment. What influenced you to do that? How could you have handled it with more wisdom? Is it too late to go back to some of these and make them right?
PS The Grotto removed that entry hallway that led me astray. 😉