Simple wisdom found in the most unlikely place

One of my favourite reads this year has been a Young Adult novel entitled The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

About a young native boy who needs to leave his Reservation in order to pursue his larger educational goals, Alexie concludes with this one simple, but effective piece of wisdom. And I am sure I am going to skewer this, as I don’t have the book in front of me, but the gist is, in the end, there are only two tribes in the world: those who choose to be assholes, and those who choose not to be.

Now, I think about this often, especially when I am stuck in traffic and am watching people act with no regard for the people who are around them and who are in the exact same situation as they are.

I also think about the truth of the statement when my husband comes back from taking the kids to a pool he didn’t know the location of, and he stops to get a directions from a parking attendant. Now how hard is it to give someone directions? Well, in this guy’s case, very hard apparently. Because he made him take a ticket, go around in a useless circle until he was exactly at the attendant’s door. And then, the guy pretends not to understand him and waves him away annoyed. Well, at least we know what tribe he belongs too…

What tribe have you chosen?