Say No to Castes

I like people. I also like people who like people.

My friend Peter and I always like to talk about group dynamics. We love to watch people and how they interact, and especially the groups we interact daily in. Needless to say this created endless conversations while we were in Japan in relation to our fellow AETs and also in our relation to the Japanese, and the Japanese amongst themselves.

Friday night was an interesting study into groups. Eight of us found ourselves at Pei Wei for an evening of good eating and good entertainment (Dum-Dum Head and Chairman Mao). The thing that made the evening interesting though was that the group consisted of eight people who normally don't hang out together. We came from multiple walks in our church. Sure we shared the same faith, and we were all middle-class single twenty-somethings, but beyond that we were as diverse as it comes: athletic and non-athletic, engineers to waiters, popular and unpopular, beautiful and average looking.

As I was going over the night in my head as I laid in bed, I cannot imagine the night without any one of those people. The uniqueness of the group was what made the evening work, and without any one of those people, it would not have been as enjoyable. Add another person, and the whole situation could have been quite different. Subtract a person and again the evening would have turned out differently.

I'm not sure I really have a point tonight. But I do enjoy being in a group with no agendas, no social jockeying, just plain enjoyment of one another's company. That's why I like people. That's why I like people who like people.