Members of the tribe of good people meet “with an absence of strangeness.” (That’s a quote from something I read a while ago – and don’t remember where.) No matter how we meet, when we finally get to see each other…when we finally get to peak beneath the veneer of our role – there is a shock of recognition – because once again we have met another good and interesting person. Someone fabulous and loud about it or someone fabulous and low-key.
As members of the tribe of good people we are all in this world not of our making that we must journey through as best we can. It so helps to know you’re not alone in being an interesting and fabulous member of the tribe of good people.
We are survivors of a world that has tried to pull us into the tribe of bad people. Somehow, some way we resisted the pull of that tribe.
Until we develop our official handshake, I send you a wink, a nod, a hug, a kiss, a wish for continued goodness.
Checked out your blog — really interesting — connected with your desire to (re)connect with friends and also thought the All White People, All the Time section was very important — I really liked your questions at the end, too, …about how much should one charge for all the different parts of being at a meeting or event …it also just struck me as how painful and lonely it can be as one of the few people of color at an event, conference, board, etc. even in the year 2007….and how much you also bring/give/share in those meetings….
Yes, there are tribes of “Good people’ and this article brings back such fond memories of the breaking down of the walls of strangeness when meeting folks, all kinds of folks that have that ‘spark’ to make you smile, laugh, think and just be yourself. Thanks for reminding me.
I love your turn of phrase, Tribe of Good People. There needs to be a meeting place—a sanctuary of sorts—where people feel comfortable enough to step of out their “social role” skins in order to connect and experience members of the Good People Tribe they have not met. The host of such an event must be a recognized member of the Tribe so his/her guests are legitimized simply through association with the host—therefore the preliminaries are out of the way and all I have to do is figure out how I am going to establish my bond to these new extended family members. I experienced this at your Tribe of Good People meeting place and the memory of the people I met and/or reconnected with still makes me smile.