Gut Reactions

Recently I was surprised at my own impressions of 2 very different people.

First: My Fair City will host elections tomorrow for our City Council. I have been pretty involved in the political scene around here and know a good bit about most of the hopefuls. One newcomer (politically) comes from a family with a long history of political service. His mother has for many years served at the state level as did his deceased father. He was born and raised in our city and is endorsed by many people of whom I think highly. Although I don't know this fellow personally, I had good feelings. Until the calls started.

We received a number of pre-recorded messages that were a bit annoying. Then, last week I received a live call from a woman obviously reading (poorly) from a script. She twice stumbled over the pronunciation of our city. Anyone who has any slight attachment to Bowie knows to pronounce to rhyme with WHO instead of HOW.

The only worse error, in my humble opinion, would have been to wreck the candidate's name itself. So, I'm left thinking this guy has more in the way of dollars to pay for hired campaigners than in the way of true local supporters to volunteer to aid his effort. At the local level, resident supporters are imperative, and what I've seen does not sit well with me.

So, as to Impression No. 1, my good feelings arrived second-hand, but my personal gut instinct will prevail: I will not vote for this candidate.

For my next tale, today I worked with DH on a job involving a sliding patio door which was scheduled for delivery to the job site.

When the truck arrived, out popped two young black men, dressed in baggy black shorts, wearing long tiny braids under those stretchy black shiny caps. My impression was that they looked like 'hoods and would probably be unfriendly or downright rude to a 40-something white woman.

Then the driver looked up and returned my smile. He had braces! I started laughing and pointing while he did the same. It was priceless. We had a nice chat about how to cope, me being only one week into the process, while he just started year three! He said he ate lots of jello and pudding in the beginning, and again every time he gets a tightening.

So, there you go. Impression 2 started as a negative, but was also second-hand, being driven by stereotype. Looking with my gut reaction to this friendly and well-spoken young man left me with a totally positive impression.

Two completely different occasions that challenged my reaction.

Just a little insight into the things that give me pause. And a reminder to myself that it's okay to gather information from others, but to think on my own.

A Private Note to My Awesome Nephew Jason: I wish I could reprint our IM session here ... you are such a kooky, genuine, and delightful guy. Thanks for sharing your time with me.