intimate strangers

life seems to be easier in autumn.
even here, where there is not much in the way of foliage, and things turn a rich, lush, transient green with hurricane rains before succumbing suddenly to a dry winter brown, the cooler winds, the thunderstorms, and mild nights dull the edge of the sweltering summer heat.
family in all of its forms is a funny thing, and has been weighing on my mind lately. with these random people, the ones we cannot choose and the ones that we indirectly choose through marriage, we are forced into most intimate terms, and it can be so easy to take things for granted. my own family boasts about as many different varities of personalities as one could wish to find: the social butterfly, the dreamer, the artist, the lawyer, the servant, the scholar--and any number of combinations and permutations of these qualities. it seems to me that the most difficult thing is not to take people for granted: not to assume that even those closest to you think the same way about things, and, even more so, to actively strive to understand these differences. it is one thing to accept, and something else altogether to understand. it is a fundamental premise of the most basic Christian love to accept the differences of others: it is true charity to strive to understand them, and to welcome our intimate family-strangers to our hearts precisely because they can offer the richness of perspective. it is so easy to get caught up in those circles where all one's friends think the same way, and i think it can be very difficult for us to break out of that mindset. it certainly is a challenge to our comfort zones! and can be an awkward, uncomfortable process to break away from the limits that we set for ourselves.
life is never easy, and others and the challenges they bring are the only opportunity we have to practice virtue--for it is no virtue to love the like-minded.
and with all that said . . . after watching the man from snowy river, boy do i miss my ponies more than ever!