There are two interesting characters sitting in the testing room with me right now. I'm going to tell you about one of them.
She is a senior in high school. She is wearing a long-sleeved button-up red shirt with cream polka dots (the shoulders and sleeves have smaller dots than the rest of the shirt) on it and blue pants with small polka dots (all the same size). To complete the ensemble, she is wearing wool socks with bright yellow, orange, red, mauve, and baby blue patterns and penny loafers. Oh, and don't forget the glasses; nothing too crazy- just rectangular with thicker frames to complete what can only be described as the Vintage Hipster Writer look. She has a shiny pink mechanical pencil that a princess could totally use.
She erases every mark she makes on the test with a big, white eraser and picks up the eraser shavings one at a time to throw them on the floor. When she is done with her test, she packs up her pencil pouch, puts it in her purse, and collects the stray eraser shavings in her hand to throw away. "Hmmm," I think, "there's no trashcan in here. I could lay out a tissue for her to put them on. Or just tell her to throw them on the floor......"
While I'm wondering what the best option is, she has already approached me to turn in her test. She flashes me the most adorable smile and says nothing about the eraser bits in her hand.
I realized something then. Everyone is their own character that they get to design. People will judge no matter what you do or look like. They will make assumptions that may be right or wrong. And that is never going to change. So you need to decide how much you are going to let those generally unknown thoughts affect you when you are making decisions.
You know what I say? YOU DO YOU!
