posted by admin in Uncategorized
Sometimes, it takes a certain person to remind you that your first impressions can be wrong. Not just wrong, but VERY wrong. For me, this recently happened when I had come out of the WC on the train. As ever I was in a moaning mood about the quality of the paper towels – I wouldn’t recommend ever using them – and the tiny space which the train WC inhabits. That is to say that I was shaking all over and probably a bit white in the face (because I had been rattled around all over the place while I tried not to wet myself).
The guy, who is the hero of this here short story, was standing waiting to go in and he smiled at me.
“What?” I said.
He said, “nothing.”
I had a bee in my bonnet by then, and this businessman was going to tell me what he was thinking because I am one of those sorts of people who feels he has to know and won’t be able to sleep if he doesn’t find out. “Please?” I said, because mother used to say “manors get you everywhere.”
“Well,” he started, “I’ve just come back from Pakistan and there were lots of people who were far worse off than us.” But not in an arrogant way. It was more heart-felt, and not the tone I expected from a business man.
He then went on to say that he had just been to a meeting with a company who were involved in sponsoring the cause and told me all about it. And that, that was good. I learned a bit, he reminded me that you really don’t know someone just by looking at them, and we both went our separate ways, a little more changed and evolved as human beings. Well, maybe. At least I like to think so.
