Hanging Out with People NOT Like You

It is a truth universally acknowledged that we like to hang out with people who are like us. It just makes things easier. The other night I was with a group of people 25 years younger than me, and it was not easy. First, cultural references are completely different. I could not make the young men grasp just how much Farrah Fawcett changed TV...they only watch TV shows where women are in bikinis...they found her hair distracting...and the music? Don't even get me started! I refuse to succumb to the idea that you can jump on the Bob Dylan bandwagon just because they sang "Blowin' in the Wind" on "That 70s Show!" No. One must earn one's Dylan appreciation through patient listening, and often asking "What was that he said?"..."Blonde on Blonde" is not a porno site on the web...people really!

So for two hours or so I just sort of sat back and listened to the world pass me by. The ten or so young people I met that evening will be the cornerstone of our little city, the engines of commerce, and the deliverers of our goods and services...I'm OK with that. You see, one of the things I've learned from Jesus Christ is that the future is never too much to get worried about...precisely because that is where Jesus came from...The kingdom of God not only is the future of this world it is the home of Jesus of Nazareth...(He was truly a dual citizen.) So I don't mind hanging out with the future...it doesn't frighten me...the past is really not worth saving (why I can never be a "conserve-"ative)...That's why I like to hang out with people who are not like me...they force me to trust my God...and I got to listen to the Kings of Leon...they're not Dylan...and that's sort of the point.