The Wee Democracy

strangers

strangers have immense power, sometimes, when you think about it. take today for example. i was riding the bus to work, and there was a middle aged black lady handing out religious tracts. she started from the back of the bus, moving forward, where i sat. now, while she was making her way up the bus, i had to think quickly, to figure out the best way to decline her offer. did i want to be polite, but make it known that organized religion and i clash, a bit like the IRA and the english? did i want to ignore her?

i got plenty of practice at waving off the religious zealots that lined the cross walk between UT campus and the drag, which i had to frequent on my way to and from school. yes, i know its fully unfair of me to lump all missionary type religious folk into the category of "zealots" but i do. anyways, i used to imagine and savor the taunting of these poor saps, as i saw them. mainly i just said no thanks, but i always wanted to torment them.

beside the point. this lady on the bus offered me a tract, and i said, "excuse me?", cause i had my headphones on. she says "do you speak english?" a legitimate question in the 'hood. i said, yeah, but no thank you, sorry, i didn't want one. "don't be sorry," she says, and smiles a sweet grandma smile. i immediately wanted to leap out of my seat and hug this woman, apologize profusely and take one of her tracts, sit next to her the rest of the way to downtown, and listen to her.

this is what i mean by the power of strangers. you can be in a blah mood and the kind smile of a lady on the bus can turn it around.

but it works the other way too. you can be trying to instant message one of your friends, and instead get her asshole boyfriend and get into it with him. and he can ruin your day, quite easily, too. and you can be out a lamp.

obviously, there is more to this story, but i figure i'm tired of telling it.




feeling: worried for my lamp
thinking of: bussing to austin.
song of the day: pea - red hot chili peppers
i'm a pacifist...so i can fuck your shit up, oh yeah.