It's a small world after all

I love Atlanta, but there are only so many places to venture. On a sunny day if you want to leave your house, you can hit up an apartment complex pool, Piedmont Park, or the Emory campus. At night, your options are a little more plentiful, but not as much as you'd expect. There are three basic areas: The Highlands, Buckhead, and Midtown. Although there are a few bars in Midtown, it's mostly a district for intense clubbing. In Buckhead, there's Fado, East Andrews, Triple Threat and some smaller southern bars. While in the Highlands, there's Hand-in-Hand/Neighbors, Darkhorse Tavern, and Fontaine's/Noche.

The basic point is that you are bound to see the same people on a repeated basis. One day while playing volleyball in Piedmont, Simma and I saw three different people running that we knew, saw a couple that played volleyball with us a year ago, and a fourth runner that is always at the Tuesday ATC track meets. It's fun to see the park so used, so alive, and so vivid.

There are some positives, as well as some negatives to running into the same people over and over again. Perhaps you'll try a new taco mac to take a break from a waitress or you've embarrassed yourself at a bar. It happens and then you get over it. But it is astounding to me that people you know will go out of their way to ignore each other and even get mad for having to share that space with other people. I'm sorry but when you go out, you might see people you know, and gasp you might even have to leave your bubble and make new friends.

I'm the type of person that always like to see an old face. Even if they're an enemy of sorts, I always show the other person the respect of a friendly 'hello.' I might not spend more than a few seconds with this exchange, but it seems like human decency to acknowledge the person.

I wish we lived in a world where we try to include people and live without worries and just have fun. Unfortunately most people don't think like me. I'll tell you this much, I'm not the type of person that will flee to some random suburban bar in Dunwoody or Lawrenceville just to avoid a certain person or an entire demographic of people. I live, work, and play in Atlanta. Deal with it. So if you see me at a Braves game, don't act like I'm encroaching on your space and that I'm not allowed to be there. Honestly if that's who you are as a person, do our small world a favor and just stay home.