Tolerance

If you're anything like me, you know some intolerant people.

But something dawned on me earlier this afternoon. Sometimes I expect intolerance from certain people - I automatically assume those people are going to act in a certain way or respond in a certain way. And then I'm surprised when I'm wrong.

After thinking about it for a bit, I realized it's just as wrong for me to expect intolerance as it is for others to be intolerant. There's enough shit out there in the world - I certainly don't need to go looking for more.

Amy and I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work this afternoon. Wait - before I get to that story, let me first explain that I've lived in this current apartment for nearly 4 years. And in those 4 years, I can count on one hand the number of times I've bumped into someone I know from my days with NET (that's the youth ministry organization I served with about 20 years ago). But since Amy moved in with me this past April, I see those NET folks all the time. It's almost creepy.....

Until today (with only one exception), I've been too timid to introduce any of them to Amy. It's always seemed too weird. Ok - who am I kidding? It hasn't seemed weird, it's been downright uncomfortable.....and "uncomfortable" and I have never been close friends.

But today, for whatever reason, I stopped this former supervisor of mine in the parking lot - smiled - said hello - and introduced him to "my partner, Amy."

And nothing happened.

His head didn't spin around. He didn't scream. He didn't start praying over me.

He just simply shook her hand and said, "nice to meet you, Amy."

Huh. How about that? I expected a particular behavior, and I was wrong. Dead wrong.

I'm going to try to remember this experience......because I really want to change that pattern in myself. I want to start expecting good things instead of expecting to be disappointed.

Thanks, Christopher.