Fearful snobbery is contagious.
It's far too easy to classify people, to put them in neat little boxes so we don't have to do anything else with them. It seems to be our way of maintaining our own preconceptions, our prejudices and our worldviews. By putting people at arm's distance, we keep ourself from being vulnerable and all possibility of being hurt.
We walk with our noses in the air, looking down at people when we take our eyes off our own reflection. The air we wear is one of pride. After all, we're following the American dream. We have houses, cars and the ladder of success is gripped firmly in our hands.
The homeless people aren't like us. That is what we tell ourselves as we walk past with our bundles of bags. We may pretend that we are better than them, we might even believe it in our heads. But inside our hearts, we are afraid of them. Afraid of the differences and afraid of the similarities that mark us. We are afraid that if we slip up we will become just like them.
So what are we? Are we truly better than them or are we just fearful snobs? We teach others by our behavior. We create rifts that don't need to be there.
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