Perspective by Robert Scott

    As still legally children, lots of our perspectives come from our parents.  Whether they were spoon-fed from our parents at an early age or just recently were placed in our heads because of our newfound "maturity", many of our opinions stem from those of our caretakers.  While this time in our lives is supposed to be one of the most anti-conforming, there are still some behaviors and opinions that slip through the cracks of rebellion, for better or for worse.
    The reason that this (pretty obvious) thought is in my mind right now has to do with a neighbor of mine.  I don't know the full story, in fact there may be more than one, but in a summarized version: my neighbor and my parents had a bit of a falling out.  Neither of my parents have anything positive to say about the elderly man that lives down the street.  Apparently they used to be on good terms, but over time my neighbor started to act more and more unfriendly (I won't use the same language as my parents) and now there is some definite tension between the two parties.  Growing up, my brother and I were subject to this opinion, and as a result, hold a similar one.  I held this view firmly for quite some time, at least until last week.

    I was doing some yard work for another neighbor when the elderly man from down the street drove up in his car.  He asked if I would be interested in mowing his lawn a few times the next couple of months.  Now, even with my prejudice against him, money is money, so I agreed.  It was a bit of an awkward conversation, especially since the handshake at the end included him pulling me close to his car and saying:
    "Next time when you walk by, say hello.  Don't have your head down like a sheep."
    Yeah, I could see why my parents had their opinion of him, but like I mentioned before, money is money.  I figured I'd put up with it for the time being, but if he ever stepped over the line, I wouldn't have a problem just walking away from the deal. 
    As of right now, though, I am nowhere near from walking away from the deal.  My first visit over ended in me being paid almost double what we originally agreed on, some compliments towards my work, and even a compliment directed at my father.  His wife was polite to me, too.  Even with all that I've been told about my neighbor, my perspective changed a little.  Maybe he's not so bad after all.
    I'm not trying to make my parents look like judgmental people.  They're not.  They obviously had some sort of bad experience with my neighbor in the past, and I can respect their opinion.  For me, though, at least right now, I'll give him a chance.  What's so bad about a change in perspective, anyway?