Don't assume

My Life in Japan.

Don't assume everyone is talking about you. You may be tall, short, super cute, or super handsome, etc. Just because someone is looking in your direction, does not mean they are talking about you. An old colleague of mine told me, “I am tired of everyone talking about me.” and I thought, why does he think that. I don't hear anyone talking about me. Was it because nobody liked me?

At the time, my Japanese ability became well but because I am not Japanese, people automatically assumed I couldn't speak the language. Later, that same colleague and I were riding on the train together. All of a sudden he said, “Look at them! They are talking about me!!” I listened to the conversation and they were talking about the weather. I said, “They are not talking about you!” but he insisted they were. I told him, “The only way you are going to understand Japan is to embrace the language. Once you do that, you can understand the people. Once you understand the people, you will know and understand that every time you are walking down the street everyone is not targeting their conversation about you.” He then made it his goal to study Japanese. Now, he is still in Japan and spoke on it many years later and he said, “ I was an idiot!! 😏