But they're good for you.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Judge Ye

I approached the bus stop in my long skirt. I saw a boy sitting there with his girlfriend. They were both smoking.

"Do you want a smoke?" asked the boy, laughing with his eyes as he looked me up and down.

For a moment I raged inside, hating him for making fun of me in a way that only someone like him could. I felt self-righteous, uncomfortable, a little nervous. I hoped the bus would come soon.

"No, thanks," I said smiling. "I don't smoke." Which couldn't have been more obvious.

Then I sat down on the bench and picked up a newspaper. I was on my way to work to prepare missionaries to share the good news with the world. What did this young man know about my life?

What was his life like? Who was he? I remembered that people are people.

I looked up from my newspaper.

"Is that a longboard?" I asked him.

"Yes, it is," he said with a grin, admiring it.

I asked him about the difference between a longboard and a skateboard.

He told me all about it.

I told him I was afraid of falling off of one of those.

We chatted.

When the bus arrived, I went up the steps with a secret song in my heart. And although he boarded with his girlfriend and didn't look at me again, I knew I had won some kind of battle with myself.

3 Comments:

  • Grool!

    I think I would have been too shy to say anything.

    So what IS the difference between a skateboard and a longboard?

    By Blogger Unknown, At 8:10 AM  

  • I think the longboard's longer.

    By Blogger merrilykaroly, At 1:50 PM  

  • I like what you wrote, and it has caused me to think about my own interactions. Anyway, here is my (over)analysis:

    An interesting standoff between you and the boy. "Someone like him," the proverbial angry teenage boy, challenges you. You rage back at him. You are danger to him, a harbinger of responsibility, consequence and guilt. He is danger to you, calling you to partake of the forbidden, and you are afraid of falling (off the longboard?). But you remember that people are people (you as well as him--who is to judge?)and you show interest and care, and the standoff dissolves and is irrelevant. The real standoff was with yourself, and you were the winner. Nice ending.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 9:34 PM  

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