Image Becomes Identity
I've been wondering about some of the people I see daily. From my local coffee shop to the grocery store and the gas station, there are familiar faces with whom I exchange greetings. We all have these folks on the border of our lives. Out of context, they can be maddening. That moment when you recognize a person but can't quite get the reason or the place. I've found that grocery clerks fill this role well when seen out in public without an apron on or away from a cash register. My meanderings have settled lately on the concept of back story. I may know something about who these cashiers and baristas and fuel pumpers are now, but what their past holds is equally as fascinating to me. There seems no way, short of taking the initiative to sit down with someone and simply say, "Tell me about your life, thus far." I've long fantasized doing that, and on occasion have had the opportunity. Unless we know back story we judge...big time. At least many peopl