As you might have guessed, this entry on the 'reflections' has no direct connection with the last (when theres a continuation, the title of the entry will be the same)
A long time ago I first heard the social psychology lecture about the power of the 'first impression', living through its consequences on the other hand is quite a different matter. Going through a period of your life filled with great upheaval -> you might be living away from home for the first time, you might be forced to pick a career for the first time, you might be fired for the first time, you might lose the love of your life for the first time, you might lose your friends for the first time etc. It is not unreasonable to expect that a person's character (and everything else) might change quite a bit during this period (undergrad). Yet what does this imply in a world where it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for people to shake lose their first impressions of others? Even if these first impressions are accurate, it would probably mean that quite a few people will eventually end up having delusional thoughts about someone they know.
especially, if a person's first impression of someone puts them into a position of power over that person in some way...
I recently read a book that spoke of this exact issue. Even if a person were to become extremely rich and powerful, his childhood friends will be unable to stop perceiving that person as 'just another Joe Blow'... in some ways rightfully so, but in some ways to their own detriment. It's not as if they can help it...
...and thus dictators (those who've risen up from obscurity) are sometimes forced to kill their own friends (sometimes, the closer they are, the faster they had to be gotten rid off). Since they are the ones who recognizes his mortality, they realize that he is just another human being, they realize that he also suffers from stomach aches, they realize that he also gets lonely or feel afraid. But more importantly (and more to the point of this blog entry), they will probably not pay him as much respect as he might deserve (as a success story prehaps, not as a dictator)...
How many dictators (metaphorical of course) are being forged by the ironworks of undergrad as we speak? and how many future victims are crafting their own doom as we speak? It would certainly be interesting to find out in about 20 years time...
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