Yeah, Great Blog…

As I was walking to work this morning I saw a young woman pushing a stroller while she was smoking.  I noticed this from behind (but was luckily far enough away that the smoke did not affect me) and could only see the telltale line of smoke whirling around her head and drifting like powdery snow down to where I could assume a small child was sitting.  This woman was puffing and puffing away, almost flaunting her filthy and death-causing habit to passersby.  

I had to stifle my outrage, biting my lower lip so hard that I was sure I would draw blood any second.  If someone chooses to smoke and damage their own lungs, fine.  I don’t agree with that decision but I’m not going to try to convince you to stop.  However, if you allow your disregard for health to influence another human being, and in this case a human being that is not old enough to either move away or voice their own objection, I feel nothing but hatred for you.  

I have asthma.  Whenever I find myself walking behind someone who is smoking I suddenly cannot breathe.  I have to force myself to sprint past the offender so the smoke will no longer clog my throat and make me dizzy.  I grew up with parents who smoked all the time and I always had to rush into another room when they lit up.  Smokers should be ostracized from society completely when they partake in their disgusting and harmful behavior.  On a recent roadtrip I was appalled that restaurants in other states still have smoking sections, at least one of which I had to cross through to reach the restroom of the establishment.  I guess I was spoiled growing up in New York where smoking is outlawed in public spaces.  However I know that I will never be able to stop people from smoking on the streets and I just have to keep my laces tied tight for the inevitable sprinting I will have to do in a vain attempt to save my lungs.

Today was different.  Today a defenseless small child was being subjected to harmful smoke.  In my mind that’s abuse.  I know others feel differently, but I think intentionally exposing a child to dangerous chemicals is wrong.  I wanted to run up to this woman and shake some sense into her, but I didn’t because I hate confrontation and didn’t want to be prosecuted for some sort of assault.  

I continued to feel bad for the baby that I knew was suffering in that stroller as the woman wheeled towards the bus stop on my left and turned sideways to board the approaching Silver Line.  For the first time I got a look at both the woman’s and the baby’s faces.  The woman was seemingly of hispanic descent, dark hair and eyes and a brown (but not African-American) complexion.  The baby couldn’t have been more than a year old and was as Aryan as they come with pale white skin, bright blue eyes and so blond it’s almost white hair.  This made me wonder if this woman was this child’s mother or perhaps his babysitter/nanny.

Yes, it’s possible that she was the child’s mother, but highly unlikely in my book, even if the father was Mr. White America himself.  Maybe the child was adopted, that’s certainly plausible.  Even in these cases my outrage is sustained because parents should protect their children, not harm them with their own behavior.

But if this woman was the child’s nanny that’s a whole other type of rage.  If I found out that my child’s nanny was smoking around him I would fire her on the spot, no explanation necessary.  The thought that someone being paid to take care of a child would have such a blatant disregard for the child’s well-being sent a flash of anger through my chest.  

I’ll never know the relationship between the woman and the child, nor whether this woman will ever learn the error of her ways.  I can only hope that the child doesn’t suffer any long term damage from this.  You might think that I’m overreacting, but I have seen from personal experience the damage that cigarette smoking can cause.  The next generation should be protected from that.

I was walking to work this morning (yes, I’ve taken to walking to and from work everyday as T prices are ridiculous and exercise is only happening for me if it’s got a purpose) and I witnessed something that part of me wishes I hadn’t, but part of me is lucky I experienced if only to have a greater understanding of mankind.  

This college-aged woman passed me, binder held against her chest and iPod earphones attached.  Her long raven hair flew behind her in the breeze and even with a quick glance I could notice the perfect shape of her legs and conservatively painted toenails.  I didn’t give her a second thought, because if you throw a rock (or rather more apt would be a Gucci handbag?) on my campus you’re bound to hit one or two of these types of girls.  However, the two men walking behind me obviously noticed her and made it a point to comment directly to her just what they thought.

“You’re really beautiful you know that?”

Cue slight pause in which I thought, “wow there’s a nice compliment you don’t hear everyday, I wonder what it would feel like if someone said that to me while I was just walking down the street?”

But then he followed it with, “But you’re so stuck up, see, that’s your downfall.”

I’m assuming the gentleman was miffed at the lack of acknowledgment given by the woman, and thus felt justified in insulting her demeanor.  It is possible that she was willfully ignoring the comment, and if so I couldn’t exactly blame her.  It would be a bit jarring to be told such by a complete stranger at 8:30 in the morning when you’ve previously been solely invested in your own little isolated world that we all reside in when we’re walking somewhere to a predetermined destination.  However, my instinct tells me that it is more likely that she simply did not hear the comment because of the music blasting into her eardrums.  In this case, the stuck up follow up comment is really ridiculous and could be easily disregarded as someone needing to defend their bruised ego.

What I don’t understand is why people think that they can say such things to a stranger and make vocal judgments about their character when they’ve been in contact with the person for mere seconds.  When I walk down the street I either stare straight ahead or admire the cracks in the sidewalk as my feet fly past them.  I do not engage with others unless I know them from previous life situations (and even then, this is limited most of the time to a quick “hey”) or we are stuck in a situation in which we are confined close together for an extended period of time like inside a broken down T car.  

Do other people not feel limited in this way?  Humanity really confuses me.

I insult people in my head all the time.  If they do something stupid, or look stupid, I’m all like “Fucking asshole.”  Any number of things can cause this reaction in me, and usually I don’t see the person long enough to find out if my suspicions are correct…

I’m on the bus today, and this guy walks on.  Older man, white hair, kind of balding in the middle.  My first thought is “What a fucking creep,” as per my usual thought lingo.

He sits down next to this woman and her little boy, smiles down at the boy and says:

“How you doin’?” like Joey from Friends, you know?  Then goes, “I bet you know more than you let on.”

How fucking creepy is that?  The boy was probably five or six years old… was that supposed to be funny?  Was his mother supposed to laugh and smile and go along with it, maybe think, aaw, isn’t that cute?  No, she should have slapped the creepy smile off of the creepy guy’s creepy face.

Eew.

It’s 3AM Boston time and I just had to walk home from school (what I was doing at school so late is another story).  It was cold, it was dark, and I just saw a homeless person TAKE SOMETHING OUT OF A GARBAGE CAN AND DRINK IT.

Let that sink in.