The Mercer on ramp is always rife with colorful characters. By characters, I mean panhandlers for a lack of a better word. Bum or beggar seems too rude. Sometimes when the light hits just right, I end up stopping right next to one of these guys. Sometimes I give change if I have it and sometimes I just wish them happiness and health.
I had seen this particular character before. I always wonder about these young ones. Are they just begging for sport or for some rebellion against working for the man, or are they really in trouble? I wonder, because I’ve known people like this. This guy was one of the bold ones, walking right up to my window.
With a mouthful of Cheetos, he held out his hand and asked me if I had any change. I handed him a handful. He was impressed, and then he fell in love with me. He told me repeatedly that I was beautiful. When I did not speed away or roll up my window, he took it as an invitation to come on over. He leaned on my window and looked in my car. He noticed the Buddha hanging from my mirror and he noticed my wedding ring.
He asked me if I was rich, and I said definitely not. With a ring like that, you must be, or he must love you. Does he love you? I looked him in the eye. He was dirty, but good-looking. He didn’t look particularly crazy or desperate. He looked like someone I might have hung out with in the old days. He does love me, I said, and smiled. He smiled too and then said, as the light changed, I’d love you too as pretty as you are.
And you know what? I took it as a compliment, and I was flattered. I’m not amazingly beautiful or magnificently kind, but I do try to see the decency in people and treat them with respect. I don’t care if he was just working me for money or he was just high. I feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt and accepting the affection. I say, pay it forward. It goes a lot further than a handful of change.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Things I Never Want To Do
Sometimes I get all worked up about the things I need to do. Well today I'm going to let myself off the hook and just make a list of the things I never want to do. So the to-do list doesn't seem so long, see.
1. I never want to climb a mountain. I know they're there and I respect that. I just don't want to climb one, or train to climb one, or risk my life on one. That's not the kind of adventure I'm into.
2. I never want to be President. Too stressful and too much BS.
3. I never want to live long enough to lose all my faculties. Or be a 21 year old cat, for that matter.
4. I never want to think that I have to cake my face with makeup and wear teeny clothes to impress men. (Side Note: I never want to walk around Greenlake in high heels.) I'm not sure it's that impressive and it's waaaay too much effort for the perceived payoff. Call me lazy, but I think I've done ok without it.
5. I never want to gain a ton of weight out of laziness and not caring.
6. I never want to be so arrogant that I think I have nothing to learn or that other people are here to serve me.
7. I never want to own fish, a lizard or a snake. Reptiles and what-not should be outside where they belong.
8. I never want to make so much money that it becomes my main goal in life, or to chase the carrot of material possessions. I'm not a saint and I like my comforts, but I can also scale if I need to.
9. I never want to be faithless.
10. I never want to live in a shack with cars and junk in the yard with weeds up to my knees. That might be some people's thing, but it's not mine. If I live in a shack, it's going to be a tidy shack.
11. I never want to be involved in extreme sports, or advanced pretzel yoga. Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of risk. I'm not adverse to work or risk, I would just rather spend that energy elsewhere.
12. Speaking of work, I never want my life to be consumed by it. I am lucky to have a career that I enjoy, but working to make other people rich is not my main mission in life.
13. I never want to be a jackass.
14. I never want to kill anyone for any reason.
15. I never want to own a boat.
I feel so much lighter now!
1. I never want to climb a mountain. I know they're there and I respect that. I just don't want to climb one, or train to climb one, or risk my life on one. That's not the kind of adventure I'm into.
2. I never want to be President. Too stressful and too much BS.
3. I never want to live long enough to lose all my faculties. Or be a 21 year old cat, for that matter.
4. I never want to think that I have to cake my face with makeup and wear teeny clothes to impress men. (Side Note: I never want to walk around Greenlake in high heels.) I'm not sure it's that impressive and it's waaaay too much effort for the perceived payoff. Call me lazy, but I think I've done ok without it.
5. I never want to gain a ton of weight out of laziness and not caring.
6. I never want to be so arrogant that I think I have nothing to learn or that other people are here to serve me.
7. I never want to own fish, a lizard or a snake. Reptiles and what-not should be outside where they belong.
8. I never want to make so much money that it becomes my main goal in life, or to chase the carrot of material possessions. I'm not a saint and I like my comforts, but I can also scale if I need to.
9. I never want to be faithless.
10. I never want to live in a shack with cars and junk in the yard with weeds up to my knees. That might be some people's thing, but it's not mine. If I live in a shack, it's going to be a tidy shack.
11. I never want to be involved in extreme sports, or advanced pretzel yoga. Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of risk. I'm not adverse to work or risk, I would just rather spend that energy elsewhere.
12. Speaking of work, I never want my life to be consumed by it. I am lucky to have a career that I enjoy, but working to make other people rich is not my main mission in life.
13. I never want to be a jackass.
14. I never want to kill anyone for any reason.
15. I never want to own a boat.
I feel so much lighter now!
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