I was at a store the other day, buying a new pair of used shoes. I'm waiting in line for way too long in a store that's way too loud, and suddenly this little girl, 'bout three and a half, starts howling. She's five feet away from me, fifteen feet from the door, clinging to her sippy and wailing away.
The old me, the sensible me, would have rolled his eyes. He would have thought sarcastic thoughts inwardly and groaned outwardly. He probably would have taken this opportunity to make an already unpleasant situation more unpleasant.
But the new me? Something twanged inside my belly. I started to wonder if the kid was lost. I looked around for something that might look like a parent. I swear, I was even thinking about going up to the kid, kneeling down, and asking if she was okay. Seriously.
Clearly, fatherhood changes a man, and not always for the better.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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8 comments:
yeah, what's with all the empathy? geez, get a grip.
I try to keep my Cynicism Force Field up to protect me from those unpleasant emotions like empathy and kindness, but sometimes even the best defenses fail us.
a) I haven't had a good opening line in about, oh, 17 years.
b) They're pretty slick: basic black outside, dark green inside, with gold laces and a gold line around the soles.
It's true - they are black outside with green fabric on the inside. People with more flair than me can flip the tops and toungue out to get a two-toned look.
hey also i had a baby, what's up! i keep meaning to call you but i'm a slacker. i'll probably ring you up next weekend when my cold is gone.
Tell him if he buys tons of them and rotates them regukarky, they last forever. I have a pair of chucks that are as old (or older) than some of my students! Yikes.
Also, tell him I don't really know what regukarky means, but it's fun to say.
I'm going to find a way to work the phrase "burning arches of hell" into a poem.
My arches, by the way, feel just fine, thank you.
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