Don't turn around

Recently I was in a food court having lunch and I overheard two individuals seated behind me. I couldn't make out their conversation that well (nor was I trying to), but every so often I caught a line about "paladins" or the beginning of a sentence starting with "If they don't die right away…" (or references along those lines). After discerning a few of those I concluded they were either vigilantes or (more likely) discussing a fantasy-themed video game. (In years past I would have jumped to thinking they referred to a role-playing game, and that may very well have been what they were talking about, but that's not my default assumption any more.)

I happened to glance up when they departed the dining area and was a bit disappointed. It's not that they didn't meet my slight expectations; they more or less exactly met my expectations. Black t-shirts, shaggy hair, glasses, somewhat overweight. They may not have been the spitting image of the stereotypical geeky gamer, but they weren't far off.

I was a little bit sad that what I would have imagined they looked like proved to be pretty close to how they appeared.

Now, I concede that they have the right to look like whatever they please. They are under no obligation to intentionally derivate from a stereotype. I'm sure there's ways in which someone might look at me and think me stereotypical in some ways, and I'm not saying they'd be wrong. I grant that, like anyone else, they presumably move in social circles where their appearance is tacitly reinforced, and it is such that they are comfortable with it. They are who they are, and there's nothing wrong with that.

My reaction reveals only something about me, nothing about them. I must have some inclination toward breaking stereotypes. I'm not sure why. I don't think I've been the victim of such pigeonholing to put a chip on my proverbial shoulder about it. It must be more a matter of liking to believe not everyone falls into a clean little demographic group, because I suppose I fancy the notion that I don't. Perhaps I like to think there's more to people than meets the eye, and conforming with a stereotype serves to undermine that (even though it's perfectly acceptable, and of course, there must be some basis for how the stereotypes get started); our minds are inclined toward classification anyway, but it's likely there's something about when that's not so easily done that interests me. I'm not sure.

It's not a dilemma for me, of course. I got over it within seconds of when they disappeared from view. If I were to consider it a source of distress, the only recourse would be to assume that most people really are as predictable as they appear to be, and where's the fun in that?

I already have my moments of abject misanthropy without succumbing to that level of pessimism about my fellow humans.

And the fact that I don't play video games has nothing to do with fear of being associated with that stereotype. At least, I don't think that's why. Of course, I am hardly in a good position to explain all of my behaviors.