I think I've spent a lifetime trying to figure people out. I mainly started this venture when I was a kid because I was such a freakin' nerd. I kept trying to figure out how to fit in.

So I categorize people, but not in a mean way. I do it as a way to relate. The problem is, categories don't always work.

Take my boss for example. She's a vegetarian, tree-hugging, leftist extremist. She reuses the other side of paper in her printer. Again, I'm not being mean. I'm just categorizing for the sake of not saying anything offensive in front of her, like "I love animals. They are tasty!" I mean I have to work with her every day, so I really don't want to offend.

Her husband too is my boss, and while he isn't a total vegetarian, he still is a tree-hugging leftist. They are so about the environment, own a Prius, own a vacation home outside of Boulder, Colorado where their daughter is an environmentalist.

So I'm figuring I've got them pegged, right? Then I catch him throwing away computer monitors in the garbage dumpster at work. I say to the man, "Hey, you know you shouldn't dispose of those in the garbage. It's not good for the environment." Then I gave him an alternative. It meant driving a few miles away to drop off said monitors and computer equipment. Still he drops monitors in the garbage.

I guess that is better than my alternative which is allowing them to stockpile in my garage.

So this brings me to a guy on Myspace that reamed me a new asshole for supporting our soldiers with care packages. He was extremely rude, and called the soldiers baby killers and that any soldier who didn't go AWOL was in conflict with the Geneva Convention. Seriously, you had to be there to try to figure THIS guy out. Visions of Hanoi Jane floated through my head. When I pointed out to this individual that he supported the war through his taxes, he went apeshit. Now according to him I was warped and a baby killer myself. Okay, well, it takes all kinds of people to live in this world, and I certainly try to see everyone's point of view. I guess the idiosyncrasy here is that this same individual supports abortion. I don't, but - - - I'm the baby killer.

Extremist example #3. For 8 years I attended an incredibly extremist fundamental church. Members were expected to attend church every Sunday morning and night, and Wednesdays, too. Women were encourage to wear skirts, not pants or they might be dressing like a man. The man was the head of the household, and women were expected to follow the dictates of their man in every aspect of their lives. Women were not allowed to teach men, even teenage boys. We were discouraged from clapping to music. That is the tip of the iceburg. Pretty much anything you did in life was wrong. And boy were you guilt tripped for it.

The irony was that three married male leaders of this church, all within a year's time, had affairs. Two of the leaders had affairs with other women in the church. The Pastor had an affair with my daughter's Sunday School teacher!

I guess I've come to the conclusion that convictions are fantastic, and without them alot would not get done in this world. But sometimes the convictions rule us, instead of us ruling the convictions. We sort of forget why we feel convicted and it just becomes habit.

I work for an organization that vocationally rehabs folks with severe mental illness. Oddly enough, people with severe mental illnesses are creatures of habit. If their schedule goes askew they don't handle it well. They like their world black and white so they can deal with it. There are no shades of gray. It makes me wonder how many of us are actually suffering from mental illnesses.

The purpose of this post? I guess I want people to look at their convictions and really think them through. Don't do stuff by rote. Think about it. Try to see the other side. ~shrug~