All the Silent People

I'd forgotten how long and quiet a day could be. Luckily, I had an errand, which required taking a morning walk. Maybe I wasn't ready for prime-time yet. I found myself, uncharacteristically, avoiding people's eyes. I just trudged along with my face down.

Why is it, in our society and perhaps others as well, that the person laid-off from his job gets hit with such a bad bout of low self-esteem. As if the reality isn't bad enough.

There usually is a way out of this downward spiral, however, as I have found (through experience, much too much experience for that matter. It's invariably about connecting with others, even if only briefly.

Leaving the second of the two banks that I had to visit today, I heard a sound behind me. Glancing around, I saw that a small, elderly, African-American woman, who was also intent on leaving the bank, pushing her walker in front of her.

This particular bank, for no particular reason I can imagine, has a series of three doors one must pass through whenever entering or exiting. Of course, I held the first door for this woman, who glanced up at me and said, "Why, thank you, sir."

At the second door, I pointed out to her that "It says this is automatic but there's nothing automatic about it, is there."

"No, there isn't," she said, "and thank you once again."

I moved ahead to open the third and final door leading to our mutual return to freedom.

"Okay, now I can send you on your way, Ma'am," I quipped. She beamed at me a moment, and said, "I hope you have a very nice day."

So I did.

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