What's Up with Them?: Prejudgment

I know this is a subject that we have heard quite a bit about, especially since we started our freshman English Composition class, or our Analytical English class, as it should be correctly dubbed. Some may be tired of the subject, but it has struck me more forcefully in just the past few days as I pondered my own prejudgmental actions. We all have at one time prejudging someone, and no doubt, have been prejudged ourselves. I know it's hard to admit, but I'll be the first to admit it. I wrongfully prejudged people before. At one point and time, I saw this person or that person and mentally prejudged them. Not just the teenage girl in the grocery store carrying around a baby or the gothic teens at the mall walking around in their black, baggy clothes - no, I'm also talking about those people who have way-out-there personalities that are totally different from mine. As time has gone by, I've realized that some of those very people that I'd never really thought I'd hang around with have become my good friends, and I've realized how ridiculous I can be when it comes to prejudgment. There is of course, the extreme of that, that a person can prejudge everyone they do or don't even meet. However, is there another extreme? Is it possible to give everyone the benefit of the doubt? I believe that's possible, too. I've had some friends before that I thought would be my best friend forever. Then there came a day when communication slowed down until there was little or no contact. A year went by before I talked to one of them. She promised me that when she got back from traveling, we would do something together. It's been three, maybe four years, and she hasn't called me yet. By this time, I've given up hope. Perhaps there is a reason people prejudge those they meet. Perhaps it's not always a natural reflex, or at least there is a reason behind this matural reflex to judge others. Perhpas we as humans are insecure. We need people, but we are afraid of being hurt. I'm not saying that is a definite possibility, but it could be one. So why do we prejudge? Or is it just a natural reflex that is somehow built into us, that we don't even think about?