15 Today’s Observation

Nice Weather: The weather was so balmy today that most people relinquished their winter jackets for spring jackets, wind breakers, sweaters, shorts and tights and sandals with socks.

Pooh: On my way to work a woman got into the bus with her child in the stroller and the top of the stroller was full of pigeon shit

Provocation: Two Caucasian male city workers in their early to mid 40s glad in neon green and orange tops stood by the door of the train chatting. One slammed his bad down on the ground in front of him and it landed with an angry thud. I thought to myself, ‘hmmm, somebody is having a bad start to the day.’ The train stopped and the two men motioned to leave, one exited without incident however the other one who had slammed his bag down on the train floor refuse to move aside to let a woman pass to enter the train. He physically chucked his body near hers and wouldn’t move aside. She looked up and he said to her, “wait till people come out.” She attempted to move aside but he again moved his body closer bouncing on her saying, “let people get out.” The train door measures about four and a half people wide if they were standing side by side, realistically he could have easily move, much like other people did around the other passengers boarding but he was spoiling for a fight and wanted to prove a point. Again he motioned with his body. The short full figured woman of African decent with short cropped hair and a side bang with white highlights looked up at the man and said in a Caribbean accent, “Look how much F-U-C-K-I-N-G room yuh have A-S-S-H-O-L-E.” The man quickly moved around her and proceeded quickly toward the other man, he never looked back. Some of the other passengers was irritated by the man’s behavior and one man said, “what is wrong with him.”

Hairy Situation: A Caucasian woman sat combing her long blonde hair in the train, when she was finished she removed the chunk of hair from her comb and threw it on the train floor and then kicked it as far away from her as possible as if it’s some random chunk of hair on the train. She fixed a beret in half her hair and sat quietly for the rest of her journey. People who boarded the train and sat in the same area was moving the hair with their feet away from them.

Angelic smiles: Walking the half a block to work this morning I saw a woman with twin girls in a double stroller (side by side) they were lounge back in their seats, feet crossed at the ankles, sunglasses and matching smiles-it was a wonderful sight.

Fishy Funk: I took a detour from work to purchase two SD cards, once I accomplished my task I waited for the Spadina streetcar going to Spadina Subway. The first one was full so I waited for the other however that one two was full so I decided to board as I had no desire to wait any longer. Packed to capacity there was little room. I managed to fit myself near the back of the driver. I turned my head to adjust my head and was side slapped with a fishy funky smell, it was the man standing beside me, as if that was bad enough he was eating and making loud smacking sounds like hogs on a farm. Normally this would drive me mad to distraction but the stink of the fish won out and I had to keep my head to the right and buried in my bosom.

Blinding stench: As I sat down on the bus on the last leg of my journey home a stench so vile assaulted my nose so violently that it immediately ejected me from my seat throwing me off balance in a disoriented haze. I could barely catch my breath and attempted to breathe through my mouth but that was far worst than through the nose. Eventually the man vacated the bus although the residue of his fowl dour suffuse the seat he occupied and seem to stick to the inside walls of the bus and refusing to leave as he did. I saw people unknowingly sitting on the seat vacated by the fowl smelling person and wondered how many times I must have unknowingly done the same thing.

This quickly made me realize that certain practices I have are a really good idea:

• Washing my hands as soon as I get in the house
• Taking off my outside clothes and changing into house clothes before i sit down
• Never sitting on my bed with the clothes I come outside with

Mindfulness:

• I was mindful of my thoughts (checked myself) of the individual who carried the offensive odor and gently persuaded the woman sitting next to me from saying negative things by pointing out that a person’s temporary unfortunate condition does not exempt the rest of the world from showing them respect as a human beings.

• You know, it is so easy to pass judgment most of which we have no idea. We assume things (assumption is not fact) much like window shopping we assume the outfit in the window would look good just because we like it--that is until we try it on.

What am I saying?

Well in a nutshell until you have walked a mile in someone else's shoes, it is wise to keep ones opinion, judgments and not so nice commentary to oneself.