Us vs. Them

Why I needed the message of The Outsiders in 2024

Hi friends,

Despite my best efforts, I have failed to steer clear of political news. The last few months especially have been hard to avoid, with candidates dropping out, a new candidate stepping up, running mates chosen, attempted assassination attempts, conventions, and debates. I’ll pat myself on the back that, unlike 2020, I have avoided heated political discourse among family/friends. So that’s a win. But completely escaping has proven impossible.

And now the yard signs have started popping up. My next door neighbor has a Trump-Vance sign; across the street there’s a Harris-Walz. It got me thinking about identity and labels - how we label ourselves and how others label us. Which reminds me of Greasers and Socs.

Last month I traveled to New York City with my best pal Michael¹ and we went to see The Outsiders on Broadway with my sweet cousin Adeline.² In the weeks leading up to the trip, I did what any sane person would do to prepare to see the musical: I read the book and watched the movie.

I was struck by how badly I needed the story of Greasers and Socs in the year 2024.

Stay Gold

Some of you may not have read the book since middle school so here’s a quick recap: In a small Oklahoma town in the 60’s, the Greasers and the Socs fight over territory. They’re from opposite sides of the tracks and they hate each other. The Greasers are poor while the Socs are more well to do. They go out of their way to look and behave differently than the other group.

Ponyboy is a ‘tuff’ Greaser, but he also enjoys looking at sunsets, memorizing poetry, and reading books, which aren’t typical Greaser activities. He is conflicted about the situation — about his friends getting jumped and the Socs getting all the breaks. He says:

I couldn’t just take it or leave it, like Two-Bit, or ignore it and love life anyway, like Sodapop, or harden myself beyond caring, like Dally, or actually enjoy it, like Tim Shepard. I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen or I would explode.

I find Ponyboy’s feelings highly relatable.

When he runs away to the countryside with his best friend Johnny Cade, they experience a sunrise together and he recites the Robert Frost poem Nothing Gold Can Stay:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

It’s a nice moment, but neither boy understands what it means. What they do understand is that even though they are Greasers, that isn’t all they are. More on that later.

As Johnny Cade lies in the hospital, he thinks about the poem and its meaning. His last words to Pony are to “stay gold,” which might be my favorite line in all literature. He understands what the poem means:

It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.

It served as a powerful reminder for me to stay hopeful, stay full of wonder and awe, stay curious like a child. Hold on desperately to that part of you that forgives easily and looks for the good in everyone.

Just a guy

While the line to “stay gold” had the most emotional impact on me, Pony’s conversation with Randy, a Soc, was even more relevant to the political conflict I’ve been experiencing:

“Thanks, grease,” [Randy] said, trying to grin. Then he stopped. “I didn’t mean that. I meant, thanks, kid.”

“My name’s Ponyboy,” I said. “Nice talkin’ to you, Randy.

Shortly after that conversation, fellow Greaser Two-Bit asks:

“What’d Mr. Super-Soc have to say?”

“He ain’t a Soc,” [Ponyboy] said, “he’s just a guy. He just wanted to talk.”

Like the Greasers and Socs, we seem eager to apply labels and establish clear lines of us vs. them. They are woke or MAGA, communist or racist. But we’re all just people and people are more than a label.

My next door neighbor is just a guy named Chuck. He’s a bit socially awkward and takes good care of his lawn. My neighbor across the street is just a guy named Mike. He rides his bikes, drives a Tesla, and mows his lawn with a push mower. They will have different signs in their yards for the next month, but they are both excellent neighbors all year round.

Still lots of good in the world

I haven’t talked about the musical yet, but it was an astonishing technical achievement. The sound design was incredible and the climactic brawl between the Greasers and Socs was a huge choreographed fight in the rain.

A line that I didn’t notice in the book that gutted me during the musical was another of Johnny’s in a letter to Ponyboy. He says:

There’s still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows.

By the time Pony gets that letter, it is too late to tell Dally. Hopefully the people we care about the most know how much good is in the world.

I’ll end with a relevant quote from the fantasy book I’m reading.

But the grand thing about people was that you could also choose to focus on particular faces, really see them, and find a wealth of stories. So many people with so many lives, each a separate little mystery…Look close at a given person, and you’d see their uniqueness—see that they didn’t quite match whatever broad category you’d first put them in.

-Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

With effort, we can choose to focus on the good. Stay gold, everyone.

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

1. This was our 3rd annual buddy trip (Portland and Chicago were years 1 and 2) and we had a great time visiting bookstores, seeing movies, and eating great food.

2. Adeline has been living in NYC for the past 2.5 years and is a Broadway regular. She recommended The Outsiders, which received 12 Tony nominations and won 4 (best musical, director, lighting, and sound).

Adeline’s Playbill photo album, which I love so much.