Urban girl, living in an urban world.
It seemed to me today that I encountered an unusually high proportion of noticeably peculiar people. On the bus this morning, I counted two people reading wacko religious tracts (sitting next to eachother but apparently unaffiliated), one transvestite, and three people behaving in ways that crossed the boundary of"normal" public behavior (including the guy sitting next to me, compulsively rocking back and forth, moving his hands in complicated repetitive ways, and occasionally growling in an oddly charming feline way). But none of them crossed the boundary of acceptable public behavior - nobody was cursing or screaming or being mean to anybody else, or ranting incoherently or even just being stinky (all of which I've witnessed fairly frequently on the bus). They were just a little... different. Even the lady in the white tracksuit who glanced suspiciously around at everybody else for the whole trip didn't see any reason to panic.
This is one of the many things I like about living in a city. Freaky people are everywhere, and that's okay (usually). It's okay to ride to work squeezed in with lots of other people who are Seriously Different Than You. It's okay to have your comfort zone squeezed a little along with your shoulders. I like to think that this is a good thing for Dutch to see, to learn that people can be peculiar and still be included in normal life. Whether or not she turns out Seriously Different herself in some way (and hey, who doesn't, in some way?), then she'll know that Different people are part of normal life, and are not to be automatically feared or excluded.
However, it's also one of the many things I don't like about living in a city. Riding on the bus or walking around downtown means having LOTS of comfort-zone-squeezing encounters, and sometimes I feel a little too squeezed, by irritation, anger, fear, disgust, sympathy, pity, and all kinds of other awkward emotions. Also, it's hard explaining to a loud preschooler why that guy smells bad and has pants that are all wet around the crotch.
This is one of the many things I like about living in a city. Freaky people are everywhere, and that's okay (usually). It's okay to ride to work squeezed in with lots of other people who are Seriously Different Than You. It's okay to have your comfort zone squeezed a little along with your shoulders. I like to think that this is a good thing for Dutch to see, to learn that people can be peculiar and still be included in normal life. Whether or not she turns out Seriously Different herself in some way (and hey, who doesn't, in some way?), then she'll know that Different people are part of normal life, and are not to be automatically feared or excluded.
However, it's also one of the many things I don't like about living in a city. Riding on the bus or walking around downtown means having LOTS of comfort-zone-squeezing encounters, and sometimes I feel a little too squeezed, by irritation, anger, fear, disgust, sympathy, pity, and all kinds of other awkward emotions. Also, it's hard explaining to a loud preschooler why that guy smells bad and has pants that are all wet around the crotch.
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