Where: Broadway Avenue
When: 11/2/23
Time: 2 pm approx.
A woman (mid 60s) was standing in front of me. She had shorty, curly-hair.
As she waited to walk out into the crosswalk — something no New Yorker likes to do (at all) — she let out an annoying huff. She was hot.
It was November. It was also spring. Madame didn’t want to let go of summer. I don’t blame her, I didn’t want to either.
Her huffing, her annoyance, made me want to take her in more.
I noticed this woman was wearing slim Josef Seibel shoes. The very same ones that had taken me around the world and back again. A little pricey, but given the amount of walking Madame demands of you, the woman had chosen well.
The cars stopped coming and I watched her walk in front of me for awhile.
She carried a bag on her shoulder with a picture of a black person who had a large #2 pencil as a part of the face. Rather, I think it was a face with a #2 pencil in front of the face.
I thought to myself, “Is she an educator? Is she a progressive? Did she get that bag at a fundraiser? Was she trying to express her values?” The questions that came to my mind about her as I looked at her bag seemed endless.
It was a bag that announced she did good in the world (Category 1). Or was the bag only a pronouncement that she believed in doing good, i.e. these are her values (Category 2)? Or had she simply wanted you to believe she did good, but actually did nothing at all, but carry this bag (Category 3)?
People are like that sometimes.
The more I watched her Seibel feet move, the more she reminded me of an attorney I once knew in Seattle. I had heard she moved to NYC – was it her? From the profile of the woman, it could have been her. If it was her, she was definitely in Category 3.
It’s only taken me into my fifth decade to consider that what you see with people is not exactly what you get, actually often not what you get at all. Paying attention to who the person is, not their clothes, shoes, bag, or any other bauble they choose to show you, is very important to understanding someone else.
I see a bag like that and I’ll admit I’m pretty jaded. It says, “Look at me! I do good in the world!” Who does the person need to convince — me or themselves?
Eventually, I strode by this woman — I have ten years on her and walk 30,000 steps on average with Madame. I left her and her bag in the dust of announcing her do-goodism to the world.
Madame doesn’t care though as this woman walks her streets, she can do no harm to her. But Madame also hopes you and I have the wisdom to know the difference as we walk along.
