I see a lot of strange things on my morning run - 6AM in downtown DC is a surprisingly good time for people-watching.
Some examples:
...the woman with crazy hair who greets me every morning on her way to work with "It's my friend" (apparently I'm her friend) "Good Morning Friend - Jesus loves you!"
...the half-asleep guards outside all of the important government buildings who have been standing there all night waiting for something very important to happen (so far, nothing has)
...the man who delivers newspapers in his minivan while his dog runs along beside (into oncoming traffic)
...lots of homeless people doing all kinds of strange things (enough said)
This morning I encountered a man who, I think, was walking to work but seemed to be still drunk from last night. After trying to get around him for a few seconds (his haphazard staggering had him pretty much all over the sidewalk) I finally saw an opening and ran fast. As I ran by he looked directly at me and said - "Nobody thinks you're relevant........at all".
Wow. His comments really kind of hurt and definitely led me through a 5 second evaluation of my life. Could this stranger read my lack of relevance simply from watching me run by? Do I really appear to have nothing to offer? Maybe he has a point - in 28 years of life what have I actually contributed to this world? Glancing back to try to get a better idea of the person who had so clearly cut to the heart of my self-worth, I watched as he very deliberately turned to his right and walked directly into the wall of a building.
Then and there I decided that relevance is highly over-rated.
Some examples:
...the woman with crazy hair who greets me every morning on her way to work with "It's my friend" (apparently I'm her friend) "Good Morning Friend - Jesus loves you!"
...the half-asleep guards outside all of the important government buildings who have been standing there all night waiting for something very important to happen (so far, nothing has)
...the man who delivers newspapers in his minivan while his dog runs along beside (into oncoming traffic)
...lots of homeless people doing all kinds of strange things (enough said)
This morning I encountered a man who, I think, was walking to work but seemed to be still drunk from last night. After trying to get around him for a few seconds (his haphazard staggering had him pretty much all over the sidewalk) I finally saw an opening and ran fast. As I ran by he looked directly at me and said - "Nobody thinks you're relevant........at all".
Wow. His comments really kind of hurt and definitely led me through a 5 second evaluation of my life. Could this stranger read my lack of relevance simply from watching me run by? Do I really appear to have nothing to offer? Maybe he has a point - in 28 years of life what have I actually contributed to this world? Glancing back to try to get a better idea of the person who had so clearly cut to the heart of my self-worth, I watched as he very deliberately turned to his right and walked directly into the wall of a building.
Then and there I decided that relevance is highly over-rated.
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