Unusual People

I’ve always liked unusual people; they often make life more interesting. And I’m amazed that some people seem to dislike, even hate, anyone who is not like them.

I have a very good friend in New Mexico who is the most unusual person that I’ve ever met. He’s a full blood Cherokee Indian. And his ideas have had a profound influence on my life.

His Cherokee Indian grandmother raised him in a remote area of New Mexico. They lived in a one-room log cabin with no running water and no electricity. When he was about 13 years old he had the equivalent of a third grade education. A social worker convinced his older sister, to take him into her home in the city. The social worker enrolled him in a remedial education program and when he was about 16, he enrolled in High School. He told me that he had a terrible time in high school, because he didn’t have many social skills and was constantly being ridiculed by his peers.

When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force where he worked on heat seeking missiles and learned photography. After completing his Air Force service, he started a wedding photography business and paid for his own education at New Mexico State University where he obtained an electrical engineering degree. I met him when he came to work for the same company that I worked for.

We shared an office together, and got to be best friends. He questioned my religious beliefs, my political beliefs, and just about everything else that I thought I knew. He made me think about life in a whole new way. Today, my views are very different than when I graduated from college. And I have my very unusual friend to thank for opening my mind to new ideas.