Not Everybody Fits Under That Blanket

Have you ever noticed how we all like to make statements that we think will cover everyone?  Have you ever noticed that the blanket is way too small?  Unfortunately for those of us who make these blanket statements, which is more than likely all of us, we end up looking the fool.  We all get so caught up in trying to be everybody else, that we've forgotten about how we are all made uniquely.  We generalize one another, but not everyone fits under the same blanket.  Yes, there are similarities, familiarities, commonalities but there are also idiosyncrasies.  You know what is more attractive?  Our differentness...  Even if you don't like what is different, it doesn't matter...because that "different" may not belong to you, or me for that matter.  If we try to fit people groups under these blankets, that we've spent WAY too much time stitching together, we end up stripping each individual of what essentially makes them "them".  It doesn't matter what your blanket statement is about...whether you're blanketing a race together, homosexuals together,  political groups together, religious groups together or nationalities together...what you have done is created a faceless vessel that you can fill with whatever predetermined assumption that you wish to.  Do we know the individual's story?  Obviously not, otherwise we wouldn't clump them into a pile and cover them with a very minimal and jaded, if not completely false, blanket...  We've all been put there.  I don't care to be clumped into the "dumb blonde" category...but my hair color puts me there and I am treated as such.  I am a Christ follower and some choose to clump me with those who have a very narrow and legalistic point of view...but do I belong there?  I certainly hope not...  What about those close to me that are ridiculed, ostracized or just treated "differently" because of the blanket that they've been forced under?  We all want to be recognized for who we are...not who others think we are, based upon what they "believe" to be true but actually isn't so.  Yes, how we are born, where we are born, what we look like, what we believe and so on, makes us who we are...but not all by itself.  It takes all of it and our personal experiences to build the reflection that we see in the mirror.  So, I guess what I want to say is...if I have done this, I'm sorry.  May I forever be convicted of the reality of what doing so would mean to an individual.  Everyone has a story that is uniquely theirs and theirs alone...it is what makes them "them"...it is what makes me "me".  We should all be convicted of this reality, lest we find ourselves bound in a blanket of assumptions.