Those Other People

I've put off mentioning this as long as I can.  And it's not that there's anything wrong with them.  But dear Lord.  I was listening to one of them talk the other day, and I cringed, just cringed.  Her ideas.  How can anyone be out walking around with the things she thinks in her head?  Does she ever get out of her own little world?  I can't tell you exactly what she said, of course, but you know the sort of thing I mean, right?  I told my wife about it, and she told me the woman was perfectly nice and besides a good friend of another friend of ours, and that I needed to be careful what I said.

You never know when you'll run into one of those people, because they seem perfectly ordinary, but then they open their mouths, and blammo.  But I'll tell you a little secret.  I can almost always spot them.  Ninety times out of a hundred in fact, I can tell you in advance if it's one of those people.  It's the way they dress, and there's something in their smiles.  Like you see their smile, and you know somehow it's fake.  I mean, they may mean it, it may be the way they really smile, but there's something about their smile that's not quite right.  You can tell.

You don't let it show of course.  You smile back and act polite.  But still.  Deep down you feel all oogy having to actually talk to one.

But sometimes they can fool you.  I was talking just the other evening to a man I've known for years, and then he said something, and I thought, "Oh, God, not him."  Sure enough, he was one of those people.  He had me completely fooled.  He's a nice guy, which is what makes it such a shame.  Or at least, I used to think he was a nice guy.  Now I'm not so sure.  Looking back, I can see the signs.

Still as awful as those people are, they're not half as bad as those other people.  Thank God, there's not as many of them.  Those people are everywhere you turn, but those other people are just now and then.  But I've noticed something.  Those other people are starting to pop up more and more these days.  I was listening in on a conversation at a restaurant the other night, and...  You guessed it.  It was those other people.  They had no self-awareness at all.  Didn't even realize that other people could hear every word they said.

If it came to some sort of huge full-scale Armageddon-type war, I'd side with those people against those other people any day.  The fact is, running into one of those other people almost makes you like those people a little better.  You appreciate their better qualities.  At least I do.  I try to see the best in people.