Stereotypes

We had our garage sale a few weeks ago, and it went well.  We live in a cul-de-sac, so we could watch the cars drive in, people get out and casually saunter over to our tables full of stuff.  I could usually tell if we were going to have anything of interest to whomever got out of the car, just by looking at them.  My father-in-law’s tools went fast, so men in their 50-60s were out of luck early in the day.  We had a lot of stuff for well dressed women.  We had a lot of stuff for 20-year-old men wearing graphic t-shirts.  I was right about 80% of the time.  The one I completely failed to anticipate was the elderly gentleman who bought my mom’s entire doll collection.

This reminded me of a story my friend recently told me.  She and her husband raised a few sheep for their meat.  Her husband and one of his friends went to take the sheep to the butcher.  The line to check in the animals was long, so people were standing outside of their trucks.  The sheep were in dog kennels in the truck bed.  People were interested because sheep are a bit of a novelty around here.  My friend’s husband struck up a conversation with a man with a huge pig.  The pig was huge, the man was huge.  He was wearing overalls and drove a battered pick-up truck.  He was asking about how hard it was to raise the sheep.  The men moved around to the back of the truck to get a better look at the sheep.  The man pointed to a bumper sticker on the truck.  “Hey, what’s that there?”  My friend’s daughter is gay, and he was borrowing his parents’ truck.  They had a Pride bumper sticker because they support LGBTQ+ generally and their granddaughter in particular.  My friend’s husband, who was with a male friend, thought…. He’s going to think we’re a couple and probably won’t like that.

So, he said, “Oh, I don’t really know.  You see, this is my parents’ truck.  I’m just borrowing it to transport the sheep.”  And tried to change the subject.  But the man would not be deterred.  He continued, “That’s the Pride Flag, ain’t it?”  “Yes, I do believe it is.”  He braced for whatever hate filled sentence he assumed was coming next.  Instead, the man said, “I gotta get me one of them to show support for my niece.”  “Yes, you should do that,” came the reply and the conversation returned to rearing sheep.

I really love this story.  We all form almost instantaneous expectations about people based on just a minuscule amount of data we can see, but it is impossible to truly know someone until we take the time to form a connection, build a relationship.  Even if it’s a 10-minute connection that comes from standing in a line together.

Creator,

We are quick to judge, quick to protect ourselves, quick to anger and frustration.  What we forget is people are constantly surprising.  Let others surprise us every day.  Grace to us this week.  May we find it and may we give it away.

Amen

Michelle is a wife, mother, sister, and friend, a chocolate and coffee lover, reader of books, listener of podcasts, and a travel enthusiast.