Preconceived perceptions

"You look weird with the long hair," Ezra commented, maybe not realizing he had said it out loud as he finished eating his fish. []

"Is that so?" Thrawn raised an eyebrow but didn't look up from cooking his fish over the campfire.

Ezra shrugged. "You used to keep it always very short. It just doesn't look like you."

"The mind rejects patterns that do not comply with its preconceived perception. When confronted with an unfamiliar notion, do you immediately assume it is wrong?" Thrawn countered.

"Well, no. Not all the time, anyway. I'd just try to understand why something would be different now."

"Maybe it was already different when you first found it and it’s simply returning to its original ways," Thrawn said with a hint of a smile.

"So... you used to have long hair?"

"For a time, I did," he nodded. "The Empire had clear hairstyle regulation criteria. It was in my best interest to conform to its established policies."[]

Thrawn passed his fingers through his hair.

Yes, the hair was just another attempt to distance himself from Bridger's old perception of him. It had been awfully clear from the very start that the young Jedi abhorred the idea of allying with him even for his own survival. [] So far they had managed to coexist without major issues but his past actions in Lothal still loomed over them. In his own way, Thrawn certainly regretted not having enough time during the Rebel attack on Lothal to find an alternative to the bombardment of the city, just as the Emperor had demanded of him. Additional to the loss of life and infrastructure, that action was making it extremely difficult to break through with Bridger who was ruled by deeply rooted moral codes and his desire to protect his people. [] Time had passed and yet this deep wound refused to heal, kept open by the consequences of his actions. For both their sakes, for the sake of their people, the wound needed to be cauterized.

["LKT" by @soulnova_alizrak]

~

Radically changing the perception we have of others is hard.

For some people, impossible.

But isn't admitting our shortsighted beliefs a way of eradicating our biases and being free from the lies?

[Photo: my favorite Ezra fanart by @aly_en.art]