I shared the transplant team concept with one of Rich's cousins at a Christmas party the other night and she immediately said excitedly "Vince would understand!" I quickly discounted her husband by saying that he is from Novato, California so he doesn't qualify.
Last night Bonnie and I were at a holiday get together. This transplant idea was shared and Bonnie turned to our friend Ana and said "You are like us! You could be a member!" I immediately disqualified her too because she is from San Francisco.
But really...there ARE people who feel like outsiders in their own land. There are others who live it too and who happen to be from California and who happen to be born and raised in this very city and this very community from which we feel alienated. There are others, and I quote omronian, who are "missionaries for freedom in a land of predetermined expectations."
Crazy, huh?
Maybe we could call them our "Special Forces Team".
Special Forces Team - does that entitle me to a cape? I pride myself in usually being completely accurate in detecting who's a "city kid" versus those who are from the "outside". Typically these city kids are easy for ME to spot because they're completely unlike me - they feel an alliance, a family, a complete connection to their neighborhood, their schools, sometimes even their childhood friends.....I prefer to appreciate those who are around me NOW....after all, I certainly didn't feel welcomed in my large red glasses (thanks Mom), curly hair and that horrible uniform.....belonging isn't something you inherit or automatically get as some sort of prize by being born and raised here....I may be SF born and raised, but belonging is a foreign concept to me....
ReplyDeleteI am on the Special Forces Team in Hawaii. I have an Invisibility Cloak like Harry Potter. I am not seen or acknowledged...unless I call attention to myself. I have gone both ways with good and not-so-good behaviors. I am "The Wild One" in the family...and "the most unpredictable", as my mother assesses me. Maybe I like being the outsider. Why be boring?
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