Easy polarization

I just got back from visiting an old friend. Tbrit is a reknowned knifemaker and he was here with his booth at a local gun and knife show. Let me tell you, it was not a place I would want to spend a lot of time. Although it's probably true that most of those guys are outdoorsmen who hunt strictly on the legit, there were some scary looking people there. Definitely a look at a strata of the American pie - appearances are almost completely either redneck, survivialist, military or ex-military.

I spoke for just a moment or two with a supplier of tbrit's who imports goods made in China. He obviously knows a bit more about the working conditions & stuff there than I do so I didn't say much. however, he started talking about Bush and the Iraq thing and I had to stop the discussion. I simply wasn't going to get into it with this guy in the middle of patriot America central. God knows if I would have made it back to my car! At any rate, I realized something I think is significant: Once the label 'conservative' or 'liberal' is applied to someone, you're automatically on opposite sides - no matter if you have areas you might agree in or that might overlap, the lines are drawn and most people aren't willing to step across or erase them.

I suppose this is true of any label. Once you identify someone as 'this' or 'that', you effectively eliminate the possibility that they could be something else. There are times when this is necessary - doctors and teachers, for example. A doctor needs to be a doctor and not an attractive, well employed man when he's working to save someone's life. A teacher in the classroom needs to be looked to as the teacher and not the woman who's single and who wears tight sweaters & short skirts (note how i stereotyped the roles?). There are labels that are necessary and effective but I guess my point is this: People are not labels. Even though they may have some of the traits associated with a specific label, that label doesn't definitively outline all of who and what they are.

I have to go back to the concept of being truly present - being in the moment. If we are truly present and truly aware, we would know this. We would realize that this person is 'this' at this moment even though they were 'that' a moment ago. We would probably not even be thinking about the 'that' of a moment ago because it is irrelevant in this moment.

I don't think I'm talking about anything new here - this is stuff we here all the time. I guess it just hit home a bit more today, how necessary it is to be present and not allow my preconceived notions of someone cloud my view of who they really are.