Greetings!
Stereotyping has been one of the longest things people have been doing. In fact, I would say everyone is a victim of stereotyping and this is because if you've not been stereotyped, you have in one way or the other stereotyped someone. So, for this reason, we're all victims of stereotyping.
Furthermore, while growing up and even up until this hour, I have experienced a series of stereotyping most especially, on my personality as people have always assumed I'm what I'm not.
Having said this, I would like to share with us one or two experiences of mine when it comes to people stereotyping me.
The first thing people usually assume about me is my quiet nature. People seeing me for the first time or let me say people who I'm not so close to always believe that I'm a quiet type. Though, I'm sort of a quiet guy, but not as people think. Although I have this kind of a cool and gentle face, I'm not what people mistake me for, which is quietness. I'm the kind of person that talks too much, especially when I'm among my friends who know me very well.
So, whenever people mistook me for what I'm not, I used to look confused about what they were saying about me. There's a time when a friend of mine and another guy were arguing about me. That other guy was like that your friend is gentle, but my friend insisted that I'm not gentle. On this particular day, they nearly fought each other if not for my timely intervention. So, quietness is one of those things people assume about my personality.
Also, another assumption of people about me is that of being rich or wealthy. Though, my stature is not really helping the matter to tell those people assuming me to be a rich kid about what my status is as I'm this big size guy. I have tried to let people know my true status times without number but all was to no avail.
Furthermore, this particular assumption of people about me being rich has really led me to being helpless without seeing or finding anyone to help me. Whenever I asked people for help, they (the people) always thought I was only joking and this has really affected me in many ways. One day I asked a friend to borrow me money, and instead of him borrowing me, he thought I was joking and he was like he cannot be wasting his money by pouring satchet water into the sea. When I heard this, I couldn't say anything again other than to shut my mouth and look elsewhere for help which I didn't get.
Also, my business of supplying building materials has always made people believe I'm stinkingly rich not knowing that supply doesn't always come. One day, a friend of mine called and asked me.to lend him 10 million naira. I told him I didn't have 20k in my account, but he would not believe me. So, since then, he's not been as free as he used to be to me as before just because he's assumed that I have such a huge amount with me.
So, in conclusion, stereotyping like I said earlier is one thing that we all are victims of and no matter how we explain to those people who are assuming we are what we are not, they would not believe. So, instead of explaining without evidence, we should, if possible, play along and stop disturbing ourselves with things we cannot control about others' assumptions about us.
This is my entry to the week 174, Edition 01 of the weekly Featured contest in the Hive Learners community.
Thanks for reading.
Pictures are mine.