Last night after my book study, Tim and I went to meet our son Jon for dinner. On the way I was light-heartedly telling him about seating in our class. I have always been one for rearranging furniture often in the house so we aren’t always sitting in the same place, looking at the same things from the same perspective. (I also have neurotic reasons for rearranging the furniture so often, but that’s another story!) In college most of my general ed classes preferred for us to always sit in the same seat so the professor could learn our names more quickly, but in some of my theatre classes we were encouraged to move around in order to see from different perspectives and be around different people. Since I like “different” I have tried to keep that up. I never sit in the same place twice and often I do not sit where my first inclination takes me.
In my book study I have put myself on each side and in the back. I was telling Tim that a friend of mine in the class made a comment about my moving around and questioned me about it. She told me a good Methodist sits in the same place every time. (I thought about a lady in our church who is so protective of her seat that she has sent many visitors away with a rebuke of “this is MY seat!” She actually makes them get up and move!! We all cringe when we hear these stories and I feel sorry for anyone who is so rigid.) I told Tim that because I sat some place different each class I felt it made everyone in this small room have to shift accordingly. He laughingly told me that I was disruptive.
I thought about that all night! Usually I am so sensitive and anything negative that is said to me I take to heart and try to work on my negative traits to become a better person. But disruptive?? I am OK with that! I feel like I was somewhat disruptive when I went back to school. I made the kids take a different look at what it means to be a student. I made some of the teachers do the same. I disrupted our family life and because of it we all became more independent and found new passions and ideas. I often have a different “back story” than everyone else and it disrupts the normal train of thought when I throw in my opinion. I try not to be the typical “Homewood housewife” and sometimes I think that is disruptive to people who want us all to be cookie cutter.
I try not to be disruptive in a negative way- interrupting people or talking during a movie. But when it comes to challenging beliefs and making people think, I guess I am disruptive. If I make someone look at things from a different angle or hear a different opinion from their own and they find that disruptive, I am all about it! I am many things -good and bad, but disruptive is OK by me!
