Gary, a nice, friendly Sikh who stayed with the next-door neighbor for a while eventually moved into a house close to the neighborhood elementary school where my kids went to a long time ago. He works hard and is training as an auto worker now, which is a far cry from his educational background and BA in political science. He is an impressive, smart guy who studied the Chinese and U.S. constitutions, for instance.
Anyway, when I head out on my bike to do my daily round, he is one of the real people I run into who usually flags me down. We still talk rather largely about life, people, and the changing world and, in the past, we discussed religion and philosophy, so Gary is a rather open, broad guy whom I can talk with as an educated equal.
I knowa number of people from the Asian community whom I, similarly, feel no distance from when it comes to casual conversation and friendliness, and they have added much interest and positivity to my life going back to Swarn Parmar of Cold Lake and Winnifred Li from Grand Centre in my first years of teaching–1972-75. Open, honest, interesting people, who interestingly enough, have been easier to talk and joke with than many of the agenda-ed and fearfully ‘tight’ Caucasians I have met along the way! “Diversity” which Justin has only lately ‘come by’ has long been a regular part of my life going wa-y-y back. I am fortunate to have many other Real People like these in my life who anchor my respect for and faith in others superficially different from me.