Judgement

Never judge a book by its cover. I saw that for myself yesterday. I have been picking up my father from dialysis for a year and have seen a man in his late 30's sitting at the opposite end of the room. His mother sits by his side. He wears dark sunglasses and makes involuntary noises and grunts sporadically. I assumed that he has Tourettes and other mental deficiencies. I am usually at dialysis for a half hour. My father's chair position was changed a few weeks ago and now he sits closer to the young man. As usual, when I was there yesterday the man was squealing and grunting. Then something eye opening happened. A dialysis worker came to unhook the man from the machine and started a conversation about opera with him. The young man answered back in the most fluent, informed and intelligent way. They discussed Pavarotti, styles of opera and shows that the man has seen. They then discussed the new movie releases and critiqued them. The man was not only well spoken, he was interesting. I was floored. When we left dialysis, I asked my father about him. My father said that the man is very smart, a nice guy and everyone talks to him. I relearned a lesson that I thought I knew.