Nov 18th; My Circles

How diverse are your relationships?

In Southwest Missouri, there is not a lot of room for racial diversity as it is a predominantly white community. In my small sub-division, I probably qualify as the only "person of color" with my half Asian heritage.

Politically, I am at odds with most people from my local area. Sure, there are other left of center folks around, but it seems to be a secret society to guard against the verbal abuse and eventual shunning that will take place. Although I consider myself to be more of a moderate, that's the same as a flaming liberal in this far right, deeply red community. You've heard the "blue dot in a red sea" analogy? That's me.
Part of the largely Republican dominated philosophy is a strong anti-union sentiment. I served my union locally and on a couple of different national committees over my career

Religiously, this is the middle of the Bible Belt.
Oddly enough, there are a whole lot of people that are of no religion whatsoever (I'd guess the majority of people). It's pretty safe to assume that if somebody goes to church, they go to a Christian denomination church. Some are ultra conservative, some more progressive. And there are several other belief systems represented, as well. I consider atheists to be a part of a belief system and there are also a significant number of them in the area -- far more than most evangelicals would like to believe.

It's like my acquaintances are from very different tribes that seldom connect in any way.
In the end, I have very few contacts from minority races.
Most of my contacts are hard core republicans with a few that lean libertarian and the ever hopeful few democrats. Surprisingly, a number of my union acquaintances are also pretty staunch republicans.
Religion-wise, the majority are affiliated with a Christian church of some kind. I also know a fair amount of unchurched or non-religious Christians and non-believers.

And of course, there are my readers that come from all over the place and have many backgrounds and stories. It could be that you are my favorite people to visit with. I read your stories and can agree or disagree freely. I can choose to comment or not. I can skip a post and not feel bad about it. I can smile when I receive your comments or see that a certain post is getting a lot of views.
I don't think of blogging as being anti-social. We have our own little society. Some of you are here daily, and others are less frequent members of the community.
I have only met a few of you in person. It would be nice to meet more of you. Perhaps on another ride.

John <><