It takes time to accurately understand someone based on first impressions alone, as people are complex and can take on many roles. To properly identify patterns in someone's behaviors, one must consider the full context and environment, as a single trait in isolation can have many meanings. The passage illustrates this through the example of meeting a man who seemed timid and afraid but was later revealed to be a serial killer on trial, demonstrating that context is crucial for understanding someone's true nature.

1. 28 Reading People
takes months or even years to get past a first impression and more accu-rately
see the complex patterns of a person's behavior.
EVERYTHING MUST BE SEEN IN CONTEXT—
NOT IN THE ABSTRACT
As William Shakespeare aptly noted, "All the world's a stage, and all the
men and women merely players. . . . One man in his time plays many
parts." To accurately identify patterns in people's traits and behaviors,
you need to consider the stage upon which they appear. If you told me
simply that a young man wears a large hoop earring, you couldn't expect
me to tell you what that signifies. It might make a great parlor game, but
in real life I would never hazard a guess based on so little information. If
the man is from a culture in which most young men wear large hoop ear-rings,
it might mean he's a conformist. If, on the other hand, he's the son
of a Philadelphia lawyer, he may be rebellious. If he plays in a rock band,
maybe he's trendy.
Think again about the jigsaw puzzle. A single blue puzzle piece could
be part of the sky, a pool of water, a building, the side of a truck, or a
man's shirt. Relying on a single trait to predict the beliefs, character, or
probable actions of a complex human being is like picking up that one
piece and proclaiming it to be the left side of a blue 1982 Ford pickup.
Good luck!
To illustrate the point, I'll describe some characteristics of a man I
knew almost ten years ago. When I first met him, he was sitting at a
table. He was thin and somewhat hunched over; he looked like a bird
with a broken wing, afraid and isolated. He had a nervous smile and an
awkward way of doing just about everything. Soon after, when he got to
know me better, he began drawing pictures for me, usually of small ani-mals.
Rabbits were his favorite. He was quite a good artist.
You probably imagine a small, timid man who wouldn't hurt a fly—
but I'll add a few more pieces to the puzzle: The table this man was
hunched over was the defense counsel's table in the courtroom where he
was on trial. He was handcuffed at his wrists and ankles. He was afraid,
isolated, and nervous because he was facing the death penalty for killing
thirteen mostly elderly women. And why did he draw me pictures of
small animals? I don't know. I suppose it was because he liked to draw
and it kept his mind off the trial. He was Richard Ramirez, "the Night
Stalker," who remains on death row today.
Always bear in mind, there are many interpretations of almost every
aspect of a person's appearance, body language, environment, vocal in-