Class

He said it again last night.

We were talking about feeling separate from others. He said he'd always felt separate. I, too, have always had a feeling of being "an outsider" but, I said, I find other so-called "outsiders" that I bond with; other odd people.

He said he didn't bond with odd people, present company excluded (meaning me). He said he tended to bond with people with who are goal-oriented. People who are educated. People with class.

I said I appreciated people based upon how genuine and authentic they are.

He said people can be genuine and authentic and still not be worth knowing.

I thought about that and realized, he did have a point. If a person's values are genuinely in opposition to mine and are, in my mind, stupid... I really don't care how authentic they are. A white supremecist is still a white supremecist and I can't deal with that. Those values are so wrong, I can't even wrap my brain around it.

But what about this whole "class" deal?

I remember he said something about how he was most comfortable around people with class that October before we "broke up".

Not that he actually broke up with me.
But he did.
He just never said it.
I felt it.
I knew it.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it, probably in part because he wasn't quite ready to let me off the hook.

You know... that thing where you don't quite want something, but you aren't ready to let it go...just....yet. And, if that behavior is something one thinks about, and intentionally drags a person on, then it definitely isn't a classy move.

But, if the behavior is unrecognized and is just someone trying to be honest and figure stuff out, then I don't know. It might be different.

Class is not about money.
Class is not about social status.
Class is not about what clothes you wear.

Some of the classiest people I have known have just been down-to-earth people with kind hearts, gentle manners, who invite you in and treat you like you're one of the family. They are people who would defend you with their last breath.

They are people who stop talking on their cell phone when they go to purchase a pack of cigarettes.

In fact, Class is an very understated characteristic. To have it, you have to just emanate it.

If you say anything about it, chances are, you don't got it.
If you think someone else doesn't have it and you say it out loud, chances are you don't got it.
If you look down on good people because they don't look or act like you, chances are you don't got it.

People with Class are never looking for other People with Class.

They hang out with people whose values are in sync with their own.

Class is about what we value and how we show it.
Class is about who we are as individuals.

Who has class?

Complimenting Guy has Class.

He was a street person who never asked for money. He wasn't threatening. He always had a smile and just seemed to want to interact with people. The way he did it was by offering a sincere compliment to you as you passed by.

Complimenting Guy has Class.

And as a result, he attracted abundace and now he has a job. Why? Because he stood out as a person. He wasn't defined by his lack. He was defined by his abundance. He gave freely of what he had. That could be seen as Class.

So, what does that mean to my discussion with the boyfriend?

Well, I got to say it turns me off. First of all, I am not sure that I would define him as a person of class. I love him for who he is, but classy? I don't know.

Then I wonder if he thinks of me as a person of class. I like to belch. I like to curse for effect. Does he find that a lack of class?

I don't really care. I am not going to stop being who I am... classy or classless.
It took me a long time to get where I am and know who I am. I don't like everything about me, but for the most part I am comfortable with who I am.

I suppose, if pressed, I would like to think I have some class...
but I don't really think about it.

Afterall, that's not a very classy thing to do.