I decided to take a break and grab myself a 2 pump caramel, 2 pump vanilla, w/ an extra shot and watch the people in my usual Starbucks. What I saw, was America...
I heard one conversation involving preparation for a Sunday school class at a local Southern Baptist Church - Another conversation was over head about gay rights involving persons I presume were gay...
One of the males from the gay rights group, dropped their wallet which was picked up and handed him by one of the "conservative Christians"... not a big deal, right.
Well, if either group had been a bit more observant they would have known that the other group, Christian or not, had some very unpleasant things to say about those from the other group (i.e. "never give them the time of day," "wouldn't bother to talk to them,,," etc.)... They didn't make the comments about people present, just generalized statements.
Now let's go back to the incident. After the wallet was retrieved and returned some from one group started up a ten minute conversation with some from the other. It was a pleasant conversation about family, the holidays, shopping, etc., at no time did their strong beliefs and differences ever enter into the conversation - They went their way having had a pleasant encounter with the hated opposition... but neither group took an opportunity to sway the opposing group - Let's hope the act of picking up and returning the wallet was enough.
The morale, generalizations are bull and in my opinion never accurate, when talking about our beliefs we need to stop using generalizations and stereotypes - Instead say what we mean and what we know and try to live life as we say we believe. In reality, the gentlemen that retrieved and returned the wallet lived his beliefs but not the words he was saying just ninety-seconds earlier - Thank GOD he wasn't observant or he wouldn't have "given the time of day" and what kind of example would that have been?
