Sharing Circle

We had moved into a new neighborhood in West Virginia several years ago. We had bought a nice two story brick home and a backyard full of trees. We were excited to have moved closer to the job my husband, Jeff, had transferred to. We didn’t know what we were in for.

I had a couple of garage sales, usually one in the fall and another in the spring. I thought nothing of it. It was a way to get rid of stuff the kids had outgrown and have money to shop for them again.

After we had lived there about a year I held a meditation seminar downtown in the Arts Theater. A lot of people attended and one woman came up to me afterwards to introduce herself. She was fumbling for words. She explained to me that she my neighbor and she would like to come to me for private sessions. She said she and several other neighbors had misjudged me thinking that I was “beneath them since I had garage sales”. She apologized.

I had never thought that a garage sale was “wrong” or “embarrassing” to anyone in a neighborhood. When she came to my home for sessions she kept explaining her feelings about it until I was embarrassed. She was ashamed of her biases. She wanted to be my friend. That was eighteen years ago and we remain close friends today. She awakened the part of me that at first was crushed by her prejudices. I had to look closely inside me. At times I, too, had miscalculated a person’s value because they lived in a house that was “too large” or wore clothes that were “too expensive“, etc. Reverse prejudice is just as narrow minded as any prejudice. I was missing out on relationships by thinking I was “less than” these folks.

I suppose the lesson is that we are all just human beings with strengths and weaknesses trying to make our way home. We are God’s children and when we look past our differences we learn we have so very much to offer each other. This year let’s all look at whatever illusion holds us back, become more open-minded, and open our hearts to new friends.