7/30/18 RMB “Our” People
Dear Rita Mae Brown,
July, with her high temps and summer activities, is coming
to a close. August promises to be just as warm, easing us closer to fall.
Comic Con was fun this year and, again, I marvel at what it
has become, having lived and participated in its humble beginnings. The
costumes have moved from mostly handmade contraptions to elaborate designs
worthy of a movie set. A Storm Trooper here, Wonder Woman there, Rochelle Ibarra
even donned a costume: Negan from Walking Dead.
Despite the immense size and massive attendance, it is still
a place of magical energy, where strangers meet and find common ground,
interests and experiences, within minutes.
This year, while waiting in one of those lines that goes forever,
where some sleep overnight and many have that zombie look, not from make-up,
nor a costume, but from staying up all night for days on end, we met an older woman
and her grown daughter. They had traveled from Texas. For the duration of that
line, from dawn into the wee hours of the morning, and into Ballroom 20 for the Supernatural show’s panel,
among others featured, they were “our” people. People who we will likely never
see again, yet for those hours of that day, we were connected.
It is interesting how people will travel great distances to
be at one of the many conventions, rallying around a common interest. I suppose
it is much like any group activity, a fox hunt, a horse show, a political rally,
and so on. Each has its own sort of magic, its own energy. However, I feel
there is something more that draws us, more than the interest or focus at hand,
it is the gathering, the sharing, the sense of belonging.
What would it take for us to feel that sense daily, to be
able to walk anywhere, among strangers and acquaintances alike, and feel that
sense of belonging, for all people to be “our” people? We share the planet
earth, her resources, the sky, and the seas. We have more in common than we
allow ourselves to acknowledge.
To Infinity and Beyond!
Loraine
