A Very Bad Habit

June 1, 2005

I like to watch people. It’s very interesting and it’s free. I can’t ask for much more than that. The problem is, there’s a fine line between watching people and staring at them. I very often cross the line. Take yesterday.

My daughter wants her ears pierced so we go to the mall. As we approach the store where the deed will be done, we notice another girl, about my daughter’s age, in the process of getting her ears pierced. When we arrived on the scene, said girl had just finished getting one ear done and was not wanting the second done. It was slightly traumatic.

My daughter was mesmerized by the whole thing and I could just see those little wheels turning in that brain of hers. Suddenly getting her ears pierced just didn’t seem like a fun idea.

Anyway, I guess I was also mesmerized by the whole situation because there we stood, the two of us, less than 10 feet away from this poor little girl and her obviously frustrated mother. We watched the whole thing–OK, we stared at the whole thing.

Do you ever do something but only realize what you’ve done until after you’ve done it? So, this morning I’m recalling the whole experience and I realize how totally rude I was for standing there…staring…shamelessly. I am mortified beyond belief for being so rude, certainly, but more because I was TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS to the fact that I was so rude! And so I have to ask the question yet again, WHAT IS MY PROBLEM ANYWAY? Geez, I wish I could get it together.

Category: Life

Comments

Leave a Reply