I'm not the Unabomber.

I was told by peers to keep quiet that I've read "Industrial Society And Its Future", but just because I'm curious, doesn't mean that I subscribe to that way of thinking. I've also read Helter Skelter but that doesn't mean I'm going after "piggies"...man, what an overly paranoid culture we exist in.

In Mississippi this past June a rather older, African American dude came up to me as I was gassing up. He looked a little rough, no rougher than I, and he engaged me in conversation. He liked my bike, wondered where I 'd been and where I was going. We had our little 10 minute conversation and that was that. He wished me well, and I did him the same.

Now I know people that would have been highly uncomfortable in that situation. Why? I'm not saying why, I can't answer for them...but mainly because it was outside of their comfort level. As one friend of mine and I discussed, "folks is folks" and as me and another friend agreed, "It's the same everywhere".

We all have the same struggle on this earth. Every one of us. We may come from different backgrounds, and different families, and different social classes, but when it's all dissected down to the nitty gritty of it all, no one knows whats what, and everyone is trying to do the best they can. That is the majority.

Our government, our media, our "culture" tries to make us think otherwise. If I'm walking down the street and cross paths with someone, I'm gonna say "hey, how's it goin"...I'm not look down at my feet and pretend they are not there, or act nervous because I think they are different than me (hell they may be the nervous ones).

If they pull out a gun and shoot me because I said "hello" then I guess that is how God meant for me to go. I know there is a lot of evil in this world, it's around us everyday. But I don't believe that its the guy asking for change on the sidewalk or the drunk in the bar....it goes a lot higher than that, and it may be the people we "trust" the most.