The Meeting
When he first walked across the parking lot towards the group outside smoking he was a bit pensive. He was unsure if this was the right place to be. Just out of the hospital he had decided that what people were telling him was correct. He stopped at the small crowd and finished his cigarette alone then put it out and started down the steps and inside.
His first impression was that there were alot more people there than he expected. Then he turned the corner and about dropped his jaw when he saw about five guys wearing colors!! Bikers!?! One percenters? Oh, this is going to be interesting he thought to himself. The room was set up with three rows of seats facing each other with a long table in the middle of the room. He took his seat in a middle row and tried to be inconspicious. More and more people filed in. The room was starting to fill up. About five minutes before the meeting started all the seat were taken and they were pulling folding chairs from a closet. It had been a warm autumn but still the heat was on and it was already a little to warm in there. Eight PM finally arrived and the meeting was started by the guy running the show. People were still coming in. The place was packed.
He was surprised to look around and see people of all stripes there. The bikers mentioned before as well as more than expected young people. Of course there were the expected 50-something guys and more women than he though would be there. the mix of people really surprised him from bikers to men in suits and way young kids in their early 20′s.
They started the meeting by reviewing what the meeting is all about. They have a set and standard way of doing this and they went through it with military precision. There came a time when they asked if anyone was new to this meeting. He quite nervously spoke up and was greeted with a warm welcome. They gave him a round of applause.
The body of the meeting went both as he expected and not so too. He found it very interesting listening to the speakers and trying to relate them to his own life. As the meeting wrapped up as he thought it would he was very surprised at the number of people who came up to him to just just say hello and talk. Even the bikers were nice and welcoming. Even while standing outside having a smoke afterwards people came up to him and introduced themselves.
They all offered the same advice.
Keep coming back.
I hope he took their advice.
It amazes me how we tend to think of ourselves as belonging to a certain group, whether it be a techie group or an age group, when in reality, we all face the same problems irregardless of our different backgrounds.
Keep on blogging, B.