True?

Charlottesville

July 31, 2023

I was watching "Catch Me If You Can" last week with my friend, Jack. Frank Abagnale said this line to the Tom Hanks character. At first, I thought was such a great insight. But the more I ponder it's meaning, the more I began to doubt it was a truism.

We think we know someone by their appearance and by their actions even if we have never spoken to them. Our minds use these crumbs of data to put together our story of the person and BOOM, we think we know them. Talking with the person (and listening to what they tell us) may change our perspective somewhat but our first impressions are hard to overcome.