When I was nine years old, I attended this small & friendly church. One of the pre-adolescents, Rachel, immediately caught my attention. She most likely had social phobia; didn't use much eye contact, frequently avoided social situations, and also appeared extremely tense around other people. Being the young and naive girl that I was, I made snap judgements about her, but definitely not toward her directly, just in my mind. I asked my mom, "Why is she so quiet? Doesn't she have any desire to make friends? She needs to be more friendly and sociable with other people if she knows what's best for her." I felt somewhat insulted & defensive because she wouldn't communicate with me when I made the effort to. My judgements were continuous and rather harsh. One year later, I dramatically changed for several reasons and developed social phobia. When that occured, I completely understood Rachel.