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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

People Watching

I am sitting in a Starbucks in my hometown and it's around 3:15 on a Thursday. I am waiting for the inevitable rush of preppy students in their maroon and navy kilts to walk in from my high school and middle school, anxious to order their grande ice caramel macchiato with extra whip, annoyed at their parents for not letting them go to that party on Friday night, and nervously darting their eyes around to see how might come in next (God forbid somebody walks in that they're unprepared to see or somebody that they would like to look prettier for). There's the typical business men in long black wool coats and scarves, high-strung mothers, artsy writers lined up along the bench as I am, and the casual stay-at-home-dads reading the newspaper or a book on their iPads. I wonder what their stories are, what are they doing here. I know why I'm here: I had lunch with a friend and needed to let the food settle before I go for my afternoon run, but don't want to sit at home - simple. But, what kinds of lives do these people lead? Do they go home to happy families, or do they go home to a destructive teenager and a husband that puts in less than he should. Are they lonely, or are they on top of the world, or they happily independent?

A boy sits next to me, probably in his mid-twenties, and he is different. He wears a grey wool top hat and a long back trench coat, has long dirty-blonde hair with a goatee and mustache. He is nods his head to the music an walked with a certain bounce to his step. He is the guy most would look at and peg as a strange teenager, probably into heavy metal, and likes to talk about things like Plato and conspiracy theories and Harry Potter. He's the kind of guy that the preppy high school students would look at as the outcast, and the parents look at him as "not the kind of guy I would want my daughter or son to date." He is my favorite, though, of all of the people that have walked in here, because in reality he is probably the guy that would treated you well instead of the accessory that a lot of the jocks around here treat people. He probably knows a thousand songs by small, unheard of bands that you would never give a shot, like him, that make incredible music. He can probably hold a conversation, unlike many of the guys around here, and will talk to you about things that you can't talk to others about because others won't care. He probably isn't afraid to show his heart, because the way he gets outcasted his emotions have spent a little more time developing than those of the instantly-excepted basketball star.

My point? Sometimes you find the best people in the most disguised appearances. As humans we innately stereotype because it is in our evolutionary nature to pick out what is different about people and fill in the unknown with speculations; that is okay, because it's natural, but it is what we do with those stereotypes that matter. Give the ones that seem different a chance, because often they will turn out to be some of the best people you meet. Remember that everyone has a story and a purpose, and everybody needs someone to give them a chance to tell that story. Sometimes you also find these people buried beneath their own personalities because they are trying to find in, and it takes someone caring to see that there is more to them. Try to deepen your relationships by giving the "different" ones a chance. Some of the most important, influential, and inspiring people in my life are "different," and I thank God that they are because by being that they become irreplaceable.

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