Certain life situation

In my life, I have met many different people. Sometimes I make assumptions about that person even before I meet them. I don’t mean to, but it just happens. It is just an instinct. There have been many scenarios where I thought someone was really mean, but once I started to get to know them, it was the complete opposite. You can’t judge a book by its cover, until you see for yourself. I know I am not innocent on this, but if your friend has an opinion about a specific person, you need to check that person out yourself to see if what was said about them was actually true.
There was a situation in my life where I changed my opinion about someone I knew. The first year I attended Orchard, there was this guy in my grade that was supposedly a big jerk and a big player. Well when I first met him it seemed like all he wanted to do is flirt with me, so then I knew that he was a player liked everyone said. But as the days went on, I started talking to him more and I really thought he wasn’t a jerk or that big of a player. I just assumed he was, because some people in my grade thought he was. I just felt bad, because instead of talking to him and getting to know who he really was inside, I just agreed and went along with everyone else. As the years went by we became really good friends and people asked me why I was talking to him, but I just would say you only see what is on the outside and not what is truly on the inside.
In this certain situation, I judged a boy, now a good friend of mine, because of what other people told me. I didn’t take it upon myself and find out what kind of person he really was. So the lesson I learned was to not judge a book by its cover or listen to what other people’s opinions are, because in the end their opinion doesn’t matter, yours is the one that counts.