Sunday, November 06, 2005

People

One of my favorite comic strips growing up was The Far Side by Gary Larson. I can't tell you why I liked them so much; they didn't even make sense half of the time. I guess that's what made them funny. They were simple and to the point, with no hidden meaning. One Far Side strip in particular has stuck with me over the years. It has a picture of God in a kitchen with a chef's hat on. In a baking pan on the counter is the Earth, where God is busy at work preparing it. As he finishes making Earth, he takes a container labled "Jerks" and sprinkles it all over Earth, saying "And just to make things interesting....."

While I don't think God created the Earth in an oven or heated it up in the microwave, I don't think this comic strip is too far from the truth. I don't mean that God made put jerks in the world purely for his entertainment. I mean that it is a good representation of how He used several different ingredients when creating the inhabitants of His planet.

I have been noticing a lot lately how great a variety of personality there is in the world. And even more than that, how all these personalities mix and match to make things "interesting". And what is even more intriguing is how all these vastly different people's lives cross, and somehow it all works out in the end.

People are funny. People are interesting. People are different. But what if all people were the same? What if God had, say, only decided he wanted outgoing people on Earth? Or only shy folk? Or how about only neat freaks? Nerds? Jocks? The list goes on and on. But fortunately, there is a good mixture of all of these.

There are the Hagan Yorks, who like to be loud and have fun.
There are the Brad Hughes' who just like to keep to themselves.
There are the Lindsey Wells' who are always smiling.
There are the Dave Blakes, who say things late at night that sometimes just don't make sense.
There are the Smittys, who you watch change over the years, but at heart are still that same old Smitty Smeed you went to Junior Camp with years ago.
There are the Eric Walters', who give us great phrases to use in the future, such as "Look......the phone calls have gotta stop."
There are the Taylor Wherles, who look at the world through a compltely different lens than the rest of us.
There are the Bryce Coopers, who get way too excited about the comments he leaves on blogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are the Erin Thomas', who always know the clever thing to say.
There are the Andy Henards, who can kill a joke even if it wore a bullet-proof vest under a suit of solid-steel armor.
There are the Matt Woodyards, who will always make you a better Halo player.
There are the Brett Rileys, who keep running their mouths even after you beat them soundly at NCAA Football '06
There are the Morgan Fischers, who stop in the hall at school and talk to you for 15 minutes, when most people just say hi and keep walking.
There are the Chris Smiths, who will be the only one to understand when I say "Call Alfred on the BatPhone, Batman got lost on Military Pike."
There are the Josh Judes, who always have a good story to tell.
There are the Sarah Kinneys, whose three major food groups consist of bread, chicken, and strawberries.
There are the Dustin Colemans, who can make you think.
There are the Justin Tapps, who like to yell and scream at the TV. And the XBox. And the toaster. And the coffee pot. And the trach can.
There are the Justin Soks, who don't know how to behave themselves, but who are the best friends you can have.
There are the Rachel Russells, who must have a lot of patience dating fools like the Justin Soks.
There are the Troy Woodyards, who do things like drop cell phones in the toilet. Or who play their guitars real late at night. Or who put a subwoofer in their white Toyota Corolla but don't bother to replace a lost hubcap.

And the list goes on and on, because everyone brings something to the table. I think that is one reason that I chose psychology as a major: to see and understand why people are the way they are and what makes them do what they do. But I don't think that that is something you can ever fully understand.

So what is the point here? There is no point really. Just what I have been thinking about late at night or in class when my thoughts wander. Take from it what you will, but I think the biggest think that I have learned is that people are different for a reason, that they have been brought into my life for a reason, and that I should be thankful that they are there, as well as be thankful that they are not all the same. Because only God himself knows what this world would be like if it were full of Troy Woodyards.

FUTURE POSTS ALERT: Over the next few weeks, you will get to look a little bit more into the lives of those who I had the privelege of calling a roommate throughout my college experience. We will look back at some of the highlights from the old Hagan Hall cell...I mean dorm....as well as the old house on Joshua Circle. We will share some laughs, and a good time will be had by all. So keep an eye out for it.

posted by Wes @ 11:18 PM

4 Comments:

At 11/07/2005 01:02:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey dude... about the major, you need to switch to journalism asap and get a column in the kernel. i think students around campus would be entertained...

 
At 11/07/2005 10:24:00 AM, Blogger JTapp said...

Nah, stick with Psych and write for the Kernel anyway. They're usually desperate for people to contribute.
When I studied there, there was a guy who wrote random, funny columns about everything under the sun. He often wrote comments about girls (similar to snow boot comments), which made him the column everyone read first. He then led a campaign to get people to write comments and vote in his polls and such. You could be that guy. He was a psych major or somesuch.

 
At 11/07/2005 12:07:00 PM, Blogger Wes said...

No

 
At 11/08/2005 04:12:00 PM, Blogger SMITTY said...

I absolutely loved the remark about Justin...that was right on!

 

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