HOW?

How well can we really say that we know a person?

How well, can we really say that we understand a person or even love them?

Our siblings, our friends, our parents, our extended family members, hell! Even our enemies, how well, can we say that we know them?

Because the sad the truth, that almost everyone is in denial about, is that, we don't. Know a person well enough. We can't.

We can try, but to what extent? Because even if, let's say - they are the center of our universe, our world, for some of us, 'our air' as we fondly call them. They are not that, one hundred percent. You have other things to think about, other dreams, other aspirations. So, you'll definitely miss out on some tiny details.

Plus, if you find out everything about them, there'll be no mystery and you'll get bored. Eventually.

So how well, do we really know a person? It's one thing to know their mannerisms - the way they talk, their hand gestures, their mood swings, or even when they're lying. You know, all the things that make them human. But the other things - their deep secrets, their emotions that they surprise you with that you never knew that they could channel so beautifully or horrifically on some days, their worst fears, their greatest happiness and many more.

How well can we really say that we know a person and why do we go through all the trouble in trying to know them, why? Is it because we are trying to validate a feeling, prove a point? Or because it's the right thing to do?

A lot of people, make it an art, a hobby some might call it, to study people. They walk into a room and from the way that you smell and wave your hands, they know what kind of person you are. Good for them. But personally, I don't think that they are always right. Like, growing up, people always used to say.

" First impressions matter."

And those same people would say.

"Never judge a book by it's cover, take a look at the contents."

Then, they would go on to say.

"Even with the contents, you cannot still understand a book till you've read it."

And they would say.

"Reading an entire book, doesn't always guarantee that you'll be able to say that you understood it completely, or you know every chapter, every page, every paragraph and every line by heart."

A lot of times, I hear people saying that people showed their true colors or their other side. And sometimes, to those who are in denial about that people just living their fullest potential, they'd say.

"That person has changed." - I don't really believe that people change, I believe, that people get better, at hiding who they are, or being who they are. And most times, we meet them when they are hiding, and with time they become confident and you start to complain.

I don't know if what I'm about to advice is right, but I'll do it anyway.

I think we all try, maybe a little too hard, to know people, understand them. When we ourselves, are a working progress - we are still learning things about ourselves everyday.

Give it time, it will come to you. Because the truth is, you can never really or truly know a person, you can only know the parts that they want you to know. Plus can only see things from your own perspective and we all have different perspectives.

By Davidfnycountry Austine Ogbadu.