deaf or not

the other day at the coffee shop three older customers were fighting in sign language over who was going to pay for the drinks. it was somehow reasuring to me. this warm surge of "togetherness" rushed over me. i am always focusing on our differences - some people are blind, others aren't, some people are deaf, others aren't, some people are smart or straight-laced or foreign, etc... but really in the end, we all still want to pay for the bill or not pay for the bill. we are all one people. das Volk... der Mensch.