One thing about having a bench chat with someone…
You can’t hide behind a hashtag.
You are expected to have a conversation. You can’t just hold up a sign, or point to your gimme cap, or utter a couple of slogans or hashtag phrases and sit complacently with your arms folded, knowing you have been heard.
You have to actually talk about something, and preferably something you know about. Your experience. How you fit into the whole fabric of the conversation. How you feel about it. And what you think should or could happen.
Because to squeeze that unique mind of yours behind a phrase, a color, a flag, a candidate…well, frankly my dear, it turns you into a cutout doll.
Blame the mainstream media, the social media, the advertisers, the campaign designers. It’s in their job description.
But ultimately, it’s your job to break out and have a conversation.
And once you start talking, all those lines in the sand begin to blur. The blue wavers get to know the surfer dudes out riding a blue wave. People on their knees praying learn more about people on their knees protesting. The me’s get to know the what-about-me’s.
And tattoos cross all imaginary boundaries. Just ask a skater girl.
So give it a try. Have a conversation with someone you don’t know who doesn’t carry your sign.
Get out in front of the hashtag, the candidate colors, the way-too-easy-conclusions. Just talk.
And with that, I’m off again…
SKATE ON!
Darla
(Bench photo from the Amtrak station in Minot, North Dakota)