86. Not Giving In to the Stereotype
On July 15th, I mentioned my puppet Josa (a brown sea otter) that I used in the nursing home and in clowning. She has taught me some lessons in being adventurous. One day I had used her at the nursing home and she was on the passenger seat of my car. On my lunch hour I stopped to go in the bank. I parked the car and sat there, looking at Josa and saying to myself “Now why would you take her into the bank?”
Myself answered, “Why not?”
I picked her up, thinking “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
I thought of nothing except being asked to leave and decided that if that happened, I could deal with it. I opened the car door, with Josa again settled on my shoulder.
I had not noticed the large Mac Truck parked in the street. Just then there emerged from the bank the stereotypical truck driver. He strode toward me as I stood by the car holding Josa, with Josa looking around.
I thought “Oh boy—here comes someone who will not appreciate this puppet.”
He caught sight of her and his stride broke, his demeanor changed, he visibly softened. As he came close to me, he reached out his hand gently to pet her and said, “Oh, how wonderful. She’s just grand.”
Josa nuzzled his hand and cocked her head to look at him. He grinned at her and at me, nodding knowingly, and repeated, “How wonderful. You both are just grand!”
Now this is about a puppet and a truck driver and the parking lot of a bank. However, I run into the broader issue of stereotypes in other situations, and it’s often true that when I make up my mind ahead of time, quite often I’m wrong.
