compartmentalization...

It's funny how we live our lives amongst each other.

I was going about my janitorial duties the other day and a guy who I had been in a small group with last semester walked through the lobby I was cleaning. I looked up and said hello. He simply nodded almost as if I wasn't there and continued walking. Later that evening, in the cafeteria I saw him again. We were standing in line together. We briefly conversed and discussed the poor dining options on campus and then went to our seperate tables. Normally, I would have chalked this up to him being preoccupied that morning and not thought alot about it. But this isn't the first time it's happened with this certain individual. One time he even addressed me as I was cleaning as a new student who he hadn't met yet. You may be thinking that this guy is a douche, and believe me I have had those thoughts as well, if only it weren't that he isn't the only person this has happened with.

There are several guys in the dorm where I clean that do this. They see me in class or lunch or wherever and we will have a friendship, but if they see me with a mop, they barely speak to me. It happens the opposite way also. There are several guys who will see me cleaning and stop and chat for a bit, but if I see them in the cafeteria, we have nothing to say to each other.

What's even more alarming is that since noticing this phenomenon, I have begun to catch myself doing this as well. I have a group of people who I may talk with everyday at lunch but never at supper. I will talk to certain people in class but if I see them in the library, I don't know how to initiate conversation with them, as if my tongue turns to stone.

Compartmentalization means to divide something into categories. I see myself as well as everyone doing this with people. It is very strange to me that I have different categories of people in my life. There are two or three people with whom I trust everything I am to, and then there are those whom I will only eat lunch and make small talk with.

It is weird to know that I put people in categories. It is even more weird to know that I am categorized in other people's minds.

What does this mean in terms of of the Kingdog of God? Do I believe God puts people in categories? Do I gear ministry oppurtunities only to certain groups of people? Is part of the reason I haven't plugged into a church because I haven't found a church that fit into my preconcieved categories? Do we put churches into categories and get angry when they fail to fit that model? Hmm.....

peace out,
hersch