Oh, thank God…

In general, people who know me tend to think I’m smart. I got fairly good grades in school, did really well in an Advanced Placement class, “got a good head on my shoulders!,” that sort of thing. But to people who don’t know me, I think I sometimes come off as a bit dim. I understand things best when I see them, so I have a hard time following spoken instructions; I often don’t hear things that people say and therefore misunderstand them; I get flustered and my mind goes into telephone mode (see my “Can I speak to your mother…” posts), all of which ends in ugly confusion, with me looking like a dumb girl who doesn’t know how to do much more than smile and say “Have a great day!”

I would wear a sandwich board that says, “I’m not dumb, I’m just drawn that way,” but it doesn’t fit the dress requirements at my job.

So my question is this: If you appear, to the general population, to be a certain way… does that mean that you really are that way? That is, if what’s inside your head remains quite safely in your head and doesn’t make an appearance, then does it really count for anything?

Are you what you are perceived to be?!

I’ve got a sinking feeling the answer is yes.