It's not junk mail

Dear reader,

   Hi. My name is John. I've been around for a while. As a matter of fact you see me in so many places. I've seen you in the grocery store, the library, on the street. Sometimes I'll see you at baseball games or just standing in line outside your favorite little Mexican food snack truck. It's funny because I feel as if I have been taken for granted for so long. And there are times that I have kept you entertained while reading the newspaper. But then again, I'm sure there are times that I have also pissed you off too. Remember that last time you were on the freeway and that guy in the sports car zipped by you just a little too fast and then cut in front of you? Yeah, that was me. I'm pretty sure I gave you the bird too when you honked your horn. (You should have heard the words I chose to yell, too.) Oh, and that person at the convenience store who pays for everything in change? You guessed it... me.


   Yeah I'm pretty much everywhere these days and no matter how hard you try it is very difficult to keep from interacting with me. There are times when I will agree with everything you say. We will have the best conversations and get along fabulously, almost as if we have known each other for years. But then there will be days when I am a perfect stranger who feels that every word that comes out of your mouth is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. On those days we will probably argue or at least just storm off in different directions thinking that the other is the biggest damn idiot in the world. Meh. That's life.


   I'll be honest with you here. On the whole I don't much care about you. It's not that I dislike you, I just don't really care one way or the other. To me, you are just another person in the world whom I interact with periodically. You are the random person in the adult bookstore, the checkout clerk at the pharmacy, or the bicyclist who I am sometimes tempted to swerve and hit because you are riding in the middle of the lane instead of staying on the side where the little pictures of the bicycles are painted. I really don't want to hear your opinions on life, the universe, and everything else that goes on in your brain. If I ask you directly, please feel free to tell me. And if you ask me, I'll do the same. However please don't be offended by what I might say, as it is my opinion. I don't ask to be berated because my opinion differs from yours. And I cannot promise I will be very friendly if I am attacked for thinking the way I do. Our views on religion will probably be different (as no two people will ever interpret life the same way). I'll let you have yours if you do the same. However, watch out if you choose not to. The funny thing is, we probably do have a lot in common. We all essentially come from the same place. We are all residents of this spinning blue and green orb in space. We are are born naked and without directed thought of our own, and we all tend to learn our basic views and ways of functioning from the ones who came before us.


   So, I'll see you on the street, in the store, or perhaps at work. You live your life. I'll live mine. Keep in simple. Be honest. Be tolerant. We're all stuck together here so perhaps we should learn that nobody is the exact same as us. And if you can't... well, be really careful the next time you are riding that bike of yours.


Sincerely,


John Q. Public