Living in another world

I sometimes wonder if I am living in a completely world to others around me, especially work colleagues. Their conversations revolve around what they watched on TV last night, which is usually a soap opera ( I don't follow any of them ), who they are going out with, who they want to go out with, how drunk they got last weekend, who they slept with ... it goes on. I don't drink alcohol, don't go out much ( normally too tired ) , I'm not in a relationship and don't sleep around . It feels I have little in common with them at times ... hence why I don't say a lot ... there isn't much to say. I found out just how much different I seem to be during last week.

It started as a fairly harmless chat. Lesley and Mandy were having their usual morning chin-wag about everything and nothing .... that day it was about the weather, and all the colds, coughs and sneezes that seemed to be around. Mandy said that there seemed to be a lot of illness around lately - her children were always coming down with something. Lesley agreed, and said that it wasn't like that years ago, when she was a kid ..... and then preceded to say something I didn't quite believe I was hearing. She stated that it wasn't like this when she was a kid, and that it must be all the "foreigners" that live here now, bring their germs with them that cause all these illnesses ..... and then Mandy agreed with her ! I just stood there open-mouthed - I truly could not believe she said that., and that Mandy agreed. I piped up that I didn't think that was right ; there were many possible causes for all this sickness - us as humans changing the environment around us, us travelling more to more exotic locations, illnesses becoming resistant to their present treatments .. many reasons. They both just looked at me as if I was an alien .... and said no, it was the foreigners. I said I "violently disagreed " ( not sure where the violence come in to it..... ) and I was walking away before I said something I regretted ..... they just looked at me blankly and carried on talking.


They really didn't see what the problem was, couldn't understand my reaction. Perhaps I might have overreacted .... but couldn't they see how intolerant, how racist their statement sounded ? I think I am becoming more sensitive to opinions like that, less likely to just let it pass unchallenged - it is probably due to what I learn through my tiny amount of work I do connected to Human Rights ... and what I have learned through my longstanding love of History and Current Affairs. It is opinions just like that, held by "normal" people - that their problems are not caused by themselves, but in some way by others seen to be different than them - that allowed regimes such as those in Germany in the 30's to take hold. I find it sad that two 'normal' people can hold such views ... said in jest or not. For Lesley and Mandy are normal; they have families, they go to work - they are not extremists, not goose-stepping, chanting Nazi/ BNP supporters - and they see what they said as normal too..... and I find that very sad. If that is what normal is, I think I would rather be considered an alien .... and I'm not the only one.....