I know this totally sounds clichéd, but a lot of people haven’t absorbed the fact that ‘judging a book by its cover’ is the worst thing you can do in life. As you walk in the school hallway, you notice the shy girl that everyone calls the ‘antisocial girl’ and then have no interest whatsoever in getting to know her better or even smile or greet her.

Why? Because people classify the individuals around them based on what they think, subjective thoughts, and not what they know about her. All they know is that she’s quiet, un-expressive and blushes a lot. Is that even a problem? Is being shy a problem nowadays? I think it’s just a personality trait that might simply fade away with time, but why not give her a chance? Any person can be the best person you’ve met in your life; you just have to dig into their personality to see who they truly are.

I remember I met a girl back in middle school. I’ll call her Rayne. I remember she was very awkward, had difficulties maintaining eye contact and barely smiled at school or even talked with anyone. I thought, “why is she this way?” so I gathered the courage to approach her and converse with her. At first she was hard to deal with because she literally didn’t talk about anything, and she gave short answers to my questions. It was unbelievable. I was getting irritated too, but I wanted to try something new in life; I didn’t want to hang around my friends only, especially since we were about to graduate from middle school to go to high
school. I brought up all the conversation topics I could think of, even if they were stupid or idiotic, but she didn’t seem to mind. She was very nice, sweet and friendly. I invited her to my house, we hung out at other places outside of school and she was VERY shy there too.

One year passed, we chatted through Facebook and we made videocalls through Skype and
watched movies together. It was great, because she was a good listener and I started telling her my inner secrets. She was also a great advisor and a good friend; she never betrayed me or failed to be a good friend. Now, we’re in Senior year, and we’re the best friends ever. I REALLY am grateful of having her in my life – she literally made me a better person and made me feel hopeful again…

This is just a shout-out to everyone who reads this; people can be more awesome than you think, and they can even change your life. I strongly advise you to NEVER, EVER miss an opportunity to meet someone and get to know them better. Who knows what’s waiting on the other side?