Monday, October 26, 2009

I have to confess that this post will encompass both today and yesterday, mainly because what I saw yesterday trumps what I saw today...

While driving home with the family from church yesterday morning we came upon a truck sticking out into the middle of the road. It looked like the driver had turned onto a side street and stopped with the back end still hanging out. As we approached the truck, we saw two people standing of to one side - a man and a woman. I'm not sure what the man looked like because everyone's attention was drawn to the woman. She was wearing a long sleeve black shirt... and that's it. I couldn't tell if they were fighting or just carrying on a normal conversation. Regardless, I immediately shouted "This is so going in my blog!!!" This is not something I expected to see three blocks from my house.

I just reread the above paragraph and realized something about that last sentence - for the most part none of us expect to see this in our neighborhoods. We like to think that everyone within a 5-mile radius is just like us. They all have jobs that provide good income, access to all the fringe benefits that we enjoy (college, cable, internet, etc...) and expect that in general they should look like us. It freaks us out when we see someone who lives in a lower socioeconomic position than we are. Ultimately we should remember that these are people not projects and they deserve respect. I want to teach my kids this.

I'm actually quite glad that once they start going to school my kids "commute" will take them past some lower-rent apartments. I think this will be good for them to understand that everyone comes from a different background and everyone should be treated with the same respect and honor as an image bearer. I hope I can follow through with that...

Today I noticed how many cars in the area have some connection to South Carolina. I saw one car that had a SC license plate followed by at least 3 or 4 others who had the palmetto and crescent moon somewhere on their car. It was weird.

I also saw a guy driving down the interstate with his gas flap open and the lid waving in the breeze. Since we were going 70 MPH I did not try to communicate with him; I would have if we'd been on surface streets.

I saw a dentist office that will be holding the "Great Candy Buy Back" on November 2... I guess they are buying kids' Halloween candy so they don't get cavities. Sounds like great publicity...

Have a great day! See you tomorrow....