“I know I may appear as a rhinoceros, but I’ve got thin skin, so be careful with me.”
I was taken by the above line I once heard in a movie my wife and I saw, “Circle of Friends,” staring Minnie Driver. Driver plays a young college co-ed who finds herself in an unusual situation. “Benny,” her character, might be described as modest, self-conscious and not really as good looking or attractive as her circle of girlfriends. During our dating days she would be the kind of girl we would've described as, “Hey, she has a great personality.” Benny was not a “hottie;” yet, as is often the case, there was something very special about her.
She falls for one of the best looking most popular boys on campus; one of those guys who is part of the “in-crowd.” He likewise falls for her, but she finds his interest in her hard to believe or understand. They are at a party sharing a dance when he begins to explain his interest and feelings for her.She said to him, “You could have any girl you want, why me?” She further opens herself up to him when she says, “I know I have an appearance of a rhinoceros, but I have thin skin so you are going to have to be gentle with me.”
At a high school reunion I once attended I had a party say to me, “I want to apologize to you.” I was a bit surprised by that statement, “Why?” I asked. The party went on to tell me the first time they saw me they had formed an opinion, and “I came to find out you were nothing like I had first created in my mind.” I told the party no apology needed. I also had certainly done such in my time.
Often it can be very premature, unfair and sometimes just wrong when we make judgments on someone’s appearance. Contact and interaction always helps in making a better evaluation of another.
It might just be possible that not every rhino standing over by the water pond shading themselves with another bunch of rhinos, has as thick a skin as we think all rhinos do.
May 10, 2012
Keep on,
Larry Adamson