Written Wednesday - Assorted Thoughts

Walking to Ace on Sunday, I passed a tall man standing alone. I said, "Hello." He said, "Hi." And as I had passed him by a couple of feet he asked, "Would you mind writing down your definition of compassion?" He held out a notebook and pen. I stopped, thinking about compassion, coming up with a response. I was puzzled. I told him, "I'll need to think about that. But I will be walking back up this way."

As I continued walking, I thought about compassion. I tried to think of my own definition. But I couldn't. Then I got to thinking about why on earth I couldn't come up with my definition. It made me a little sad... I consider myself compassionate, but how?

I avoided him on the way back, taking 2nd Street instead of 3rd.

* * * * *

He asked me, "Do you think I'm normal?" That threw me off. Kevin said, "Well, according to so-and-so [a poet I had never heard of] people ask questions like that due to inner..." "I don't think he's that deep," I, rather brashly, interrupted.

No, I don't think he's normal. But then again, I never knew him.

* * * * *

I spent about two hours at Borders tonight. I read Adbusters and skimmed through a few bad parenting books. I bought a set of three small journals. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but the idea of a fresh journal sounds appealing. I also bought a small address book. I was going to get a larger one but realized that I probably wouldn't even fill the smallest one.