52.5 Brought to you by the Letter L

Another post written intermittently while answering calls at my desk at work which looks eerily similar to this image, but isn't.  Todays post is apparently brought to you by the letter L. 

It doesn't happen very often but once in a while, I Learn something new about myself. Allow me to give a few examples, when I was a soldier I learned just how many miles I could run in a day and I frequently learned that given the correct motivation, (e.g. someone I feared more than muscle pain) I could run even further.

I also learned that I am ridiculously Lucky. Many people that have shared similar experiences to my own (helicopter crashes, bullet wounds, insurgents bombing airfields less then 10 feet from my sleeping bag) have faired far worse than me and have the scars to prove it if they are still lucky enough to be standing. I have also been lucky in love as the several previous posts about my ever blushing bride can tell you.

Today I learned I am quick to judge a complete stranger by their appearance alone. It isn't that I am unaware that I do this, I have always formed my opinions on my first impressions mostly due to the fact that I tend to be dead on the money. When I was in the Army I knew with in the first few hours whether or not a new soldier in the unit was going to be anything more than an annoyance or a problem waiting to happen (eg, attitude or behaviour issues) , something that most of my fellow soldiers took weeks and sometimes months to catch on to, usually to their dismay.

It occurred to me today holding a door open for a guy that I can only describe as a bit flamboyant,(in his full denim jeans and denim shirt, and his lavender midriff showing undershirt) and my inner thought process chuckled (at the time I had been thinking about a character in the book I'm reading dealing with OCD) I am under the general impression that I am a decent, well mannered person, I hold doors open for people, I say please and thank you, and I am often heard to say sir and ma'am to just about everyone I speak with, so why is it do you suppose, that I am amused when my assumptions about a complete stranger are confirmed seconds after I form them. (In this case Mr flamboyant gave an effeminate giggle and sashayed into the office.)

So my question for you today is what have you learned about yourself, that you may have been aware of but didn't actually know?

Random Fact: Harrison Ford presented Edward Zwick (the director of Love and other drugs) The 1998 Oscar award for best picture for Shakespeare in love.