People Who Remind Us of Others

People are all over. Some we see, others we barely Notice. Some we instantly look Away from, afraid to acknowledge. I am talking about the beggars Naturally. Some try to pretend they Are not there, But they are. Some we revere and admire, Even without really knowing them. Naturally I refer to the rich and famous Or the families that appear to be made Up of happy people. Sometimes they completely Fool us. That is okay. Others we make fun of, for their Juvenile ridiculous tweets or Facebook Postings. Some we completely Discount without knowing at all, thinking We know them because of an impulsive Social media blunder. People make Mistakes. Right? We judge people before they open Their mouths. We judge them by Who they resemble, rumor mongers And exaggerators who Who have taken advantage of our Naivety perhaps. We do not mean to Judge them. It just happens. Impressions are important, but the first One is not the only one we could use To box and shelf a person. Yet, it is what many of us do. Not all of us, and not every time, But some of us do this to People who remind us of others who Have taken advantage of us, hurt Our feelings, or done other forms Of meanness or selfishness. Boxing and shelfing people is what We do. After labeling them of course. We label people pretty quickly – liar, braggart, brassy, loud, whiny, Complaint artist. Some people make It through our filters quickly, others Do not survive the initial two second Not-quite-complete-preview. We have a “feeling” about them. This Feeling is often based on prior Knowledge we have about Someone they resemble. Feelings Are difficult to overcome. Sometimes we are not Aware at all that this feeling voice Has overruled our mind. Some people make Many new friends, these are the Open people. They tend to get burned the most often, but They think the risk is worth it because They are people-lovers, they collect New people. Other people are highly suspicious Of new people. They wonder at Their motives, they are not in the New-friend-making business, so They try and shelf us over and Over again. If you are a people Person, you do not shelf easily. You keep coming back, knowing Their friendship will be worth it. These hard-to-get-to-know-types Are insanely loyal once you have Refused to be labelled, and boxed on Their shelves. You are in their faces, Befriending and nurturing them, Becoming one of their people Because you know that No one makes a better friend. Submitted to People's Poetry Contest Sponsored by Richard Lamoureaux