I grew up in St. Andrews, MB. Living there, you might know one or two of your neighbours, but that's it. My property was huge, almost 17 acres of land. If you don't know how much space that is, trust me its a lot. You might think that much space would be liberating, but I found it limiting.
As a kid, I was surrounded by well-established families. People were well dressed, and drove new cars. Whenever I would drive with my family to Winnipeg, I'd see a person that didn't belong to the particular class I was accustomed to, and I was scared. I couldn't relate to them.
I was sheltered. In my mind, different equalled stay-away-from. My perspective has gradually been changing over the past few years. My recent move to the Ozborne area has provided a great platform to begin the process of re-assessing my judgements.
This past weekend, I went to the Sherbrook Street Festival. There I was amongst a crowd of very different people. Some of which were very similar to the people I saw when I was little, and there I was, mingling. And not only that, I felt comfortable, in my element even.
One of the guys I met at the festival could have been described as a "punk", had I met him a long time ago. But all I think now is that he was an interesting, fun individual with a lot to say. He turned out to be a likable, charismatic young guy with an interesting perspective on life.
I now run into these situations on a daily basis. Yesterday I walked into my Osborne Starbucks and met another great person in line. The thing is, we could all use a dose of open-mindedness. It's amazing what you see and who you can meet if you simply open your eyes.
