We first confronted our differentness 2000 miles away from home, at two in the morning in the middle of a four day weekend. It started over a simple card game the day before when I politely dismissed a couple people sharing the house with us, friends of friends who had a difference in opinion over the rules.

Just after she came to bed crying, the boy and I were awakened by screaming and pushing on our door, so I had to make choose how to handle the problems of other people. After the confusion, I wasn’t too surprised by the insanity: a seemingly benign difference of personal opinion that touched a guest’s nerve, leftovers from the earlier mild agression. But, we were more interested in teaching our son about thoughtfulness than having a juvenile confrontation, so we decided that night to simply walk away when they came to kick us out.

The way we live our lives often puts us on the periphery, and we are confused about why. Some people are truly threatened by the honest way we conduct ourselves: try explaining that to a ten year-old at three in the morning when you also don’t fully understand human nature.