We Are Not Like Them

by Christine Pride

The only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people that are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous and more forgiving—and

Even the same tired insults hurt—hate doesn’t have to be inspired to cut you.

It’s a dangerous combination when we have officers with weapons and all the power, who also feel superior to the people they serve, when they look at our communities as places to control and police rather than protect and serve.

It’s a paradox, loving someone precisely because you know them so well, inside and out, and at the same time nursing a tiny fantasy that they can be different in the specific ways you want them to be.

Maybe it’s what we all want from the people we love: to be seen for exactly who we are.