Those People

I met some people this weekend of the type who help me keep my balance. As we sat around a bonfire at a housewarming party chatting about everything from Dutch Elm disease to mental illness, this group of spikey-haired and dreadlocked, pierced and tattooed freaks spoke with a passion and compassion that had me envying them before too long. It's not that I agree with everything they said, it's that based on their appearance the moment I met them, I had already decided who they were and what they were about. I hate that. As we talked, I never got the feeling that they had done that to me. I'm from the suburbs and they're from the city. Lots of the things I only read about in the paper happen to them. I started to realize that although I feel in tune with my crowd, I'm way out of touch with theirs.

I think you sort of get "socially inbred" if you know what I mean. Birds of a feather flock together, and you don't really get to know other types of birds. It was interesting to hear not only what they thought but why they thought that. And it was never a debate, it never got heated. We were just talking. I don't want to think about people in terms of "those people". What a lousy way to think of people Jesus died for! But I do want to get to know more people who are less like me. How crazy. Usually I like people who are like me.