I’m walking through the wide aisles of Wal-Mart with my dad. Fishing gear. Summer is just around the corner and with a new fishing boat; my dad can’t wait to get the latest tackle and trolling equipment. Soon after finding decent equipment, my Dad is in a state of utopia and decides to ask a sales clerk about where he can find bobbers.

As he walks around with the sales clerk, I find a bench by a drinking fountain and sit to wait while fractious feelings start to arise since we have been shopping for over an hour. As I sit on the bench, I watch the people shopping throughout the store.

There is a flamboyant man dressed in tightly fitting clothes with an ostentatious hairstyle. I roll my eyes and look in the other direction to see a timorous girl looking at swimsuits with an apprehensive look on her face. As I pass her I, see a cashier standing behind a counter with a bored expression on her face. I imagine working there has become an anathema.

My dad comes back with a bag of bobbers in his hand and his arms overflowing with fishing gear. It looks like his arm is truncated; he can barely keep all of the gear in his arms. I told him to get a cart -- but no!
He says, “Are you ready kiddo?” I nod and we check out.

On the car ride home he says to me, “Strange people go to Wal-Mart, don’t they?” I think, really? But as the car ride progresses, I realize that that is what brings Wal-Mart its character and makes it appealing. The schism of everyone’s personalities. Different people with different behaviors and personality. The people are what make Wal-Mart interesting. So what if a man likes to dress weird or if a girl is unconfident. They are who they are and that is what makes this world such an interesting place to live. And yes, the world even has a place for people like my dad, who walks in with a jaunty step and leaves with a smile on his face. Whether Wal-Mart is the place to find fishing gear or not, it is a place where differences come together for one common goal; to shop.