Two random moments with Strangers
1. On the train on the way downtown on monday at 6. A few seats in front of me sits a woman with her baby girl. This little girl is facing me while the mother faces forward with her back to me. The girl smiles. I Smile back. I play hide and seek. She plays with me. I start doing crazy faces and weird motions. It gets to the point where she is screeching and cracking up and desparately trying to climb up to see me while her mom tries to hold her down. It only lasted five minutes but it was great. That mom will never know how close and connected I felt to her daughter for those few minutes.
2. Waiting for a bus a 20's attractive black woman asks me if the 44 has come yet, I say no. We exchange a few comments about the weather or something else trivial. She is sweet and we hit it off if only for a minute before my bus goes. I smile as I step on the bus and hear "have a good one." But as I walk to my seat I turn to get a final glimpse of the girl who brightened those few minutes and I see she is about to puff a cigarette. My feelings immediately change and I feel she is tainted. Am I horribly prejudiced toward smokers or what?
2. Waiting for a bus a 20's attractive black woman asks me if the 44 has come yet, I say no. We exchange a few comments about the weather or something else trivial. She is sweet and we hit it off if only for a minute before my bus goes. I smile as I step on the bus and hear "have a good one." But as I walk to my seat I turn to get a final glimpse of the girl who brightened those few minutes and I see she is about to puff a cigarette. My feelings immediately change and I feel she is tainted. Am I horribly prejudiced toward smokers or what?