Some years ago a new Interstate loop was added to the highway system where I lived. The first time I drove on it, I saw a sign beside the highway that said, "This Lane Does Not Exist."
"What?" What do they mean, "This Lane Does Not Exist"? It does exist. I am driving in it.
Each time I drove that highway, I had an argument with the sign makers. I kept telling myself and which ever ghost was riding with me in the car at the time, "I know the lane exists. I am driving in it. I just don't understand."
One day, after the highway had been opened for a couple of years, I drove the route and the sign said, "This Lane Does Not Exit." Really, that is what it said. The lane does not exit. "When did they change the sign?"
Well, I doubt that they changed the sign. I think I changed my glasses. Somehow my first impression, which was wrong, got stuck in my mind. I looked hard at the sign every time I passed it and never saw the absence of the "S". I was so convinced that it said, "This Lane Does Not Exist" that I couldn't see what it really said.
I wonder how many other wrong perceptions I get stuck on? I wonder how many first impressions I have that do not really represent reality?
I don't know, but I have been thinking about it lately. I guess sometimes it is important to "unlearn" what we "know" so we can discover what is real.