“Filthy Sinner!” She shouted at me, completely out of the blue. “You! Filthy! Sinner!” She glared at me, not breaking eye contact, not giving any reason why I’d been chosen to receive the sudden flinging of her focused and mysterious fury. I was dumbfounded. What had I done? Sure, I’m a sinner, but a filthy one? I looked around, surely there were filthier and worse sinners in the area. And if I was indeed a dirty filthy sinner, how did she know?
Like just last week, I was shopping for a new shirt. A dress shirt. Not to wear with a tie or anything, but just a shirt to wear with maybe jeans, or perhaps a nice pair of slacks. I wasn’t sure what color I wanted, so I was just browsing. I was in a pretty good men’s store near my old apartment, and they had some really good deals.
Although I’ll be honest. I really have no clue what a good deal is when I’m shopping for clothes. IÂ have no real clue about anything when I’m shopping for clothes. All I really know is if it fits or not. And even then I’m not sure.
It’s funny when you do stuff like that. Even you’re not sure, you go ahead and do it anyways. Not really concerned with how it comes out, because you kind of have a feeling that tells you that things will turn out ok. And sometimes, when you feel really good, like you are in some kind of a zone or something, and you just know, really know, that everything is going to work out.
And the sales clerk that came over knew. She knew I was choosing between the blue shirt and the light gray one. I don’t know how she knew, but when she said “You should definitely pick the blue one because it matches your eyes,” I knew she knew. Matching clothes to eye color. I had no idea that was even possible. I guess people like that sales clerk develop a kind of second sense for what people are thinking. She was definitely good at it.
Unlike that poor woman in the park. Turns out her husband left her a while back for another woman. And she kind of lost it. Maybe I reminded her of him in some way. So all she does now is sit on the bench and get angry about things that happened long ago. And yell at people who remind her of the past. It’s a terrible shame that some people can’t let go of things, so they can focus their energies on being able to create a better future. Being able to let go so you can free your mind to take advantage of what’s really in front of you is an important skill, isn’t it?