Loving the Person Who Isn't "One of Us"

I was reading Rubel Shelley's site, and I particularly liked this article.

And, while he was talking about church going people, I think that it's also appropriate in a secular context, because we have a tendency to view people who are "not like us" as somehow different than us, ie., they do not have the same feelings, issues, problems, and joys as we do.

I wish that I could say that I've never done this, but I've been guilty of making assumptions about people based on *very* superficial information, and then being embarrassed when I found out that I was completely mistaken. The only 'good' thing about my error was that I had not made my assumptions public, so I didn't have to walk around with egg on my face. But it sure stings to be wrong about something. It feels like something out of Dr. Seuss:

"All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot."

Anyway, I'm always trying to stay aware of what's actually going on inside my head, and not just acting from fear, or from a place where I'm in 'zombie-mode', where I'm not thinking at all, just walking around in a daze. It is incredibly easy to slip back into old habits and patterns of being, especially when you are trying to create new, better habits.

©2007 LaVeda H. Mason All Rights Reserved.

Loving the Person Who Isn't "One of Us"