A Matter of Place

The Divine Mrs. M and I were talking about life and our place in it. Bellevue is a very close knit community. These people have lived and grown up together and so have their parents and their grandparents. We are newcomers and will never belong. The Divine Mrs. M is pretty active, but there's still that "you're not one of us"-ism. We're not moving though. This is where I've struck my flag and where I'll make my stand to make my fortune and future.

I can see how that would bother the new people. I've never experienced that close-knitness. Where I grew up everybody was from somewhere else. Everybody's parents had moved from some mid-size mid-western industrial town to work in this mid-size mid-western industrial town.

But it goes further than that for me. I've never really felt comfortable with any group. I've touched on this with the death penalty. I'm against it, but I'm not going to be one of those people praying for the man meeting the needle. We have common interests but too different temperments.

Peggy Noonan got me thinking about this with this column. I normally don't read her because I find her writing too....willowy? I agree in keeping this Schiavo lady fed and I agree with Noonan's point. However, although I do agree with the reasoning and description of the forces trying to keep her alive, I don't see myself aligned with those people. I have a deep sense that if I went to Florida and stood with the "Right to Live" people, I just wouldn't like them. I wouldn't feel at home.

I felt the same way when I was active in party politics. I agreed with these people on issues, but not on attitude.

I guess it's just a matter of place and I need to find mine, but I think my place is inside my head and between the walls of my home.

Stay You.
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