Difference brings gifts. How can I include someone in my life whom I might normally exclude?

This is an interesting question that uses, in my view, a broad-brush assumption of how gifts come into our lives. I get the premise and the type of answer the question is attempting to point us towards. But for myself, I usually choose to associate and build connections with people who share similar values and interests as my own. (Isn’t this why most of us enjoy being on this site?) That’s just human nature. If I have ever “excluded” anyone from my circle of acquaintances it is because their behavior or values, in my view, are an affront, if not a threat, to the norms of behavior or social decorum that I have chosen to live my life by. Is that a judgment on my part? Indeed it is. I sometimes interact for brief periods of time with people whose lifestyle and values are opposite of my own, and I might even enjoy it, though briefly. But it doesn’t mean that I bring them into the core of my life and being because I am expecting them to bring me some kind of a “gift.” I think that’s unrealistic, if not silly.

With that said, I try to be on the lookout for new kinds of experiences and ones that involve people that widen my circle and interactions that get me out of my usual comfort zone. I am blessed with a rich and full life that includes many people, so it is easy for me not to intentionally widen my circle. This, as I see it, is a gift that can be limiting, too. When my routines and people-circle does expand, it typically happens around areas of doing service work, faith exploration, pursuing musical interests or undertaking political action of some kind. And even this has a ring of commonality to it of which we all seem to seek, does it not?
– Kevin