Friday, August 11, 2006 - 8:08 a.m.

I am one of those liberals that pride myself as not having prejudices and being open to all kinds of people. Doesn't matter what of those qualities you have in the non-discrimination clause of the HR manual - I accept them all.

I also realize that everyone has some pre-conceived notion about various types of people and I realize that most people do not to admit they have them. It is always unsettling when you realize these things about yourself.

A man got on the train two stops after mine. The first thing I noticed was his thick beard which he seemed to start petting obsessively.

Then he began having a very loud conversation with the air. He was commenting to people on the train about women putting on make-up. How this must be the make-up train and how he once went to a wedding and took pictures of all the women wishing they would not wear make-up. There was a man sitting next to him who politely chit-chatted but then announced that his stop was coming up and he had to get off the train (I am not believing him and I would guess he got on the next train).

So nobody is responding to the loud talking man so he starts an animated monologue in Arabic. This after the country has been properly scared by terrorists and the Republican leadership about how nobody is safe (whoops - I forgot I welcome all people including Republicans).

I felt uneasy. I could not put my finger on whether it was just the loud talking and crazy person bothering me or if I really thought he was carrying some sort of gun/bomb/weapon of mass destruction in his cloth tote.

I am going to admit that it was a little of both.

I got off at Belmont and changed trains.

Have the terrorists won then? Have I succumbed to fear? Am I one to point my finger at one ethnic and religious group?

Nothing happened of course and I wish I would have stayed on the train - but then maybe I would not have had to face my own realization of the prejudices that I carry.