Try to Accept That People Can Be Different

The other day I was watching a video about a train to a particular city. I don't even really remember the city it was going to. I just like trains for some reason, despite not really riding on many. The few I have ridden on I loved. It's way different than flying. You're not packed in nearly as tight. You get to pick your own seat. I guess that's not true of all of them. Some are really packed at rush hour. Some probably have assigned seats. But something about them still makes me like them. And now days, some of them have wifi when for some reason planes still don't to a large part. It just feels like a better way to travel to me. Rather than rushing to get there, you get a nice trip. Of course, I also highly support funding bullet trains, which is a lot faster way to get there. The comfort of a train with the speed of a plane.

_{Photo by Sean Lamb (Slambo) 8 August 2004 CC BY-SA 2.0 (source)
An eastbound BNSF train at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The train is passing some maintenance of way equipment on the other track.}

But then the couple of assholes that were making the video started talking about how everything was nice EXCEPT this one basement dweller on the train who sequestered himself off in a corner table with a laptop and a bunch of gadgets and took up the entire table supposedly. Supposedly he was in the corner so you couldn't see his screen. Now see...I dunno about anyone else, but I don't want anyone looking over my shoulder at my screen. I don't care what I'm doing. Fuck off. Don't look at my screen. Maybe I'm chatting with friends. Maybe I'm checking email. I don't even care what I'm doing. Don't look at my screen.

They also complained about how he looked dirty and hadn't showered for days or something. He's on a fucking train, trying to get somewhere, maybe being presentable for your dumb ass isn't the top of his priority list. Not everyone has what others think of them as their top concern.

Here this guy is, just trying to ride the train to get somewhere and work on his laptop. If someone sat down at the table he might try to make room for them. But he just wants to do his work on his laptop, and you're sitting at another table, judging him for existing, just because he's a bit different than you.

But see, the world is full of all sorts of different people, with different beliefs and concerns. Some of them actually do live in basements. Some of them don't give a fuck what you think of them. Some of them would rather get to work than take a shower first thing in the morning. Maybe he has a fucking deadline. Maybe he doesn't give a shit.

Imagine what the Americans thought when the first settlers from Europe came over in boats. They probably stank to high hell. Not to mention Europeans didn't really bathe in those days. They just covered their stench with perfume. So these stinky people that look totally different than them get off of these massive boats, in weird ass clothes, wearing crumb catchers and other such weird ass clothing. What they must have thought. And yet they didn't attack them immediately because they were different. Maybe some of them did. They might have been better off if all of them just killed them all when they arrived though.

People are weird in general. We're all different. Imagine what you must look like to people from different cultures. Even members of our own supposed culture are extremely different. Those Instagram girls with massive painted claws certainly don't feel like they're from the same culture as I am. But you know what, they find their own happiness in their own way, and that's okay. Sometimes I don't really get people that are all about looks and buying things...but...somewhere deep inside I still know they're just different.

We need to start learning to accept that people are different. We're in a different world now. There are all sorts of different people out there. It's not just our tiny little circles anymore. Soon there will be all sorts of different people we have to get along with every day. Those weird people that you reject from your circles have their own circles somewhere, just waiting for them. There are people that everyone fits in with. Learn to get along with different people, or you could end up in a war because of your differences.