Be a Liker 101

The other day, my friend called me a “liker”. It was the nicest compliment I’ve received in a long time. It’s been on my mind ever since.

We were at the country music festival and had just eaten dinner we bought at the BBQ stand. She had the pulled pork sandwich with 3 awesome sides, and I had a garden burger. (Kudos to the vendor for recognizing the non meat eaters!) The bbq beans were sincerely the best I’ve ever had. As we headed back to our seats, there were Girl Scouts selling cookies. I offered to buy a box and asked my friend if she likes Thin Mints. She said no, so we went with the Samoas. I mean ... I just needed chocolate! She said, “oh, you’re a Liker”.  

Yep. I am a liker.

Let’s take cats, for example. I generally consider myself a dog person. I  like cats. I think I could even learn to love cats if I gave it a chance. When I arrived at my above-mentioned friend’s house, I was greeted by her 2 beautiful cats. I said, “hello, I’m a dog person but I like you!” They were great representatives of their species and accepted me into their world for 24 hours.

This scenario could be repeated over and over with various groups of people, religious sects, political parties, weather, food, etc. I usually can find something to like about everything and everybody.

The point of this post is ... well ... HERE IT IS ...

I like a lot of things but I’ll tell you what I don’t like.  I don’t like hate. I don’t like labels. I don’t like generalizing or stereotyping. I don’t like bullying. I don’t like name calling. I don’t like being patronized. I don’t like hard sells. I don’t like lemon flavored Girl Scout cookies.

My eyes are wide open these days. I’m amused (for lack of a better word) by the chaos and tension we are all suffering. Yes, we’re all suffering. If you are reading this and don’t believe you are affected by what is happening in the world, my hat is off to you. 

Please don’t misunderstand me ... I have strong opinions and feelings about the current state of affairs. But, who is responsible for how I feel? Definitely not you. Your beliefs and understanding of the world intrigue me. But hear me out. What a boring a world it would be if we didn’t have some kind of strife. Getting stuck in name calling and drawing lines in the sand are not moving us to where we want to be. 

Want to know how to be a liker? I try to look past all the labels we put on people. It’s as simple as that. Find something to like about (fill in the blank). If we can’t do that, we’re kind of screwed. 

Or be a hater. I’ll still find something to like about you. 

Love, susan