Will You

Half Marathon

Perfection

One of the problems of needing to be universally respected / accepted, is that it precludes you from getting close to people.  If and when you do get close, they (and you) realize that you're far from perfect.

At that point, you can choose to run away - distance can cover rough edges - or simply realize that it's ok to be wanting / inadequate in some areas.  As those visions of grandeur fade, so too do the burdens of image and identity.

It's such a paradox, and I always seem to come back to this.  True strength found in weakness.  Cultivation of the inner life & faith versus striving & the my-life-my-ambition mentality.

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end . . ." ( Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God— trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6).

Intragroup Homogeneity

Ingroup homogeneity is a term in social-psychology that describes how people within a group perceive members of their group to be distinct, but members of the outgroup to be homogeneous.  Example: Under this principle, non-Asians would perceive Asians to “all look the same.”

People who’ve heard me stories already know, but my workplace could be a case-study for every concept in social psychology – particularly if it relates to stereotypes, prejudice or discrimination.

A couple months ago, one of my two Asian coworkers was congratulated on a project I was part of.  The kid is a foot taller than me, looks nothing like me, and has totally different mannerisms/demeanor.

Yesterday night, I lucked out at our company’s poker tournament (see what I mean about my company) and won.  I got a CD cleaner.  Later that night, my other (of the two) Asian coworker gets pulled over for running a stop sign.  A partner, who is new to our firm so this is slightly excusable, goes over to see what happens and comes away saying – “The kid who won all the poker chips got pulled over.”  My HR manager and half the company nearly freaked out – “Mild mannered Derek?!!”    That is my reputation, that and being the office Ninja.  Intragroup homogeneity.

Under the theory’s assumptions, intragroup homogeneity applies whenever there is an ingroup and an outgroup.  Therefore, this theory should apply to more than just East-Asians.  There are two African American girls at my workplace who are both tall.  That's about how far the similarity goes.  For the first two months of their arrival, all the partners mistook them for one another.

My work place has a significant percentage of Indian Americans.  But ingroup homogeneity has no respect for percentages.  I was about to see "neither do I", but that makes no sense.  Two of my coworkers, who are of Indian ethnicity and have similar names, have been mistaken for each other by everyone at our company – including a partner of Indian ethnicity (whoops, there goes the theory).  To make matters worst, one of their cubical name tags was labeled with the correct first name, but the other guy’s last name.

I’ve been reassured that I look nothing like my two Asian coworkers.  It probably didn’t help that last night we were both wearing a black sweater and blue jeans – which is rare attire for any Asian guy.  Whoops.  As a disclaimer, my understanding of the theory precludes me from falling prey to it.