It's weird, nothing crazy unusual has occurred in the store's vicinity this week. Or, perhaps it has and I just simply don't notice anymore. Maybe I'm becoming like that frog in the pot of water; as the temperature increases I fail to notice the subtle shifts of heat that will eventually destroy me.
I'm not surprised that it has been a bit on the quieter side because it was the end of the month, and since a lot of our customers are on Food Stamps they seem to mysteriously disappear as the month ends. So I tend to wander around the store a bit, I joke with J-Dunks about the latest drama in the deli while he tries to convince me that the wheat grass really is greener on his side of the store (a point with which I cannot disagree), and that I should come over and work with him in produce. I'd like that. But he doesn't have as many fun conversation as I do.
Therein lies what I love about where I work. There is a real, and vital exchange across these vast social expanses whenever I talk with my co-workers or customers, it's awesome. I can't tell you that I have successfully converted all, or even any hippies over to my religiously traditional, and socially conservative lifestyle, but thanks to me....they might hate the rest of you a little bit less. It's a great privilege. I also love how the opposition of ideas has had a tendency to challenge areas of biased or untruth in my perspective. But really, I kind of enjoy the sort of mild shock that washes over people when they find out that:
A. I did in fact vote for Mitt Romney over Obama. (mind you, I don't like either of them....I just dislike Romney less, and while it maddens me that politics has come to that...c'est la vie)
and
B. I'm a Biblically-conservative traditional Protestant. One that listens to a lot of the same music that many of them all do, and occasionally crosses the "work-place appropriate joke" line....to my embarrassment that actually means that every once in a while a joke I make
is appropriate. I've seen a lot of movies that they have enjoyed, and can articulate my background somewhat well.
I can tell with some, that it's been unnerving to discover these things about me. Unnerving for two reasons I think. The first is that people are terrified of offending each other, so they worry that their demeanor or language has been offensive. Sometimes it has, but I don't take myself so seriously that I cannot talk with person who uses bad language. The second, and I think this is subtly more common, I stand for a lot of things that the people around me disagree with, sometimes with great vitriol, and yet they seem to enjoy my company and outlook.
It's a pretty cool thing to be able to "humanize" the enemy for people. There seems to be more credence seen in my beliefs now that I am able to chill out and let relationships happen before I point to the line drawn in the sand, and while I have actually had to point at it most people haven't treated me any differently for doing so. I know that, in conservative circles, we are being made to belief that the social sky is falling in on us. We will soon be crushed under a black miasma of liberal ethics, government entitlement programs, and the Oprah Winfrey channel, but I don't get the feeling that it's as bad as all that. Perhaps, and this might be shocking so make sure you are comfortably seated, some of their social agendas are good and helpful.
Still in your chair?
Perhaps we've been wrong in
how we go about our perspective.
Perhaps some of them are also Godly, and reverent.
So, what's all this about? It's about disagreement, wonderful, lively, humorous, good-natured, and humble disagreement. Life is so hard if you always have to be right, so find somebody who disagrees with you, and become their friend.
