Friday, June 25, 2010

Gossip 101




I always find myself scratching my head at all of the odd little idiosyncrasies of people, how they make assumptions about other people without ever having met them. Talking in carefully guarded whispers whenever someone they deem to be- “Odd” passes by, and of course the ever present leaping to narrow minded conclusions about people they don’t even know. Case in point, two guys that have recently moved into the apartment just four doors down from me, they are quiet, courteous, well mannered and dare I say even polite on most occasions that I have crossed paths with them. This morning I was down in the laundry room, and there was a young guy and a girl in there talking about- “The new arrivals.” the banter that I heard going back and forth pertained to the two guys never being seen with women, so the inevitable conclusion that was reached after a short deliberation was that they must be gay.


Normally I don’t force my opinion on other people but I must say that the subject material got me more than a little curious so I carefully inserted myself into the conversation.
“So you think that they are Gay? Or you KNOW that they are Gay?”
The Girl told me.
“Oh.. They are gay.. Trust me.”
“And you based this judgment on what exactly?”
Well long story short I never did get a straight answer from either of them, but it did get my wheels turning. I’ve always been a believer in the simple philosophy that if you want to know something definitively usually the best way to get to the meat of the matter is to simply go to the source.


So I saw one of them getting into the trunk of their car and in a non offensive manner I struck up a conversation with him, and in a few short minutes I found out more about my new neighbors than those two closed minded idiots could have learned in a lifetime. By simply talking to them, I discovered that they were two brothers that moved here from Los Angeles, They both recently lost their jobs and moved here in hopes of finding new ones. They both have girlfriends that they are going to move down here as soon as they get enough money, and the reason that they are both living in the same apartment is they thought that renting two would be a waste of money. I considered going to find the pair of gossipers to set them straight but would good would it have really done? What’s the old saying? If someone is talking to you about someone else.. Then tomorrow they will more than likely be talking about you to them.. Jim Morrison was right. People are strange.

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