So... today was interesting...
It began with my daily walk in the cold air and on icy sidewalks to the subway stop to go downtown for work and class. On the way, I came across a crisp dollar bill in the snow. Weird...
Then came the phone call that Amber's grandma had died during the night. It had been expected as she was going downhill with multiple types of cancer over the last several months. We were already making plans to go to the funeral this weekend as it were. Needless to say, in one way, Amber and I are pretty thankful it happened at the time it did, as we haven't had to ask much work off and this weekend is the only one we have free for the next four or five weeks. So tomorrow, we make a nine hour trip to Western Kentucky... fun times...
Then, there was work. It really wasn't so bad today, but it's a bit hard to get excited about filing papers, shredding papers, sorting mail, and working for a very perfectionistic boss. Thankfully, I think I've gotten on her good side and she's been impressed with how much I can get done (I guess you could say three and a half years of working as 'gopher boy' at a church and as the low man on the totem pole paid off!).
Then, I had class. My professor for Heidegger is, er, odd to say the least. Add to the fact that he hasn't taught Being and Time for 17 years, it makes for an interesting time. I also had to present in my Husserl class today which constituted 20% of my grade. Thankfully, I think it actually went exceptionally well. I also got my first Husserl paper back today and got an A- on it. Sweetness.
During class, I got a random phone call from my old boss in Indy. I wasn't able to pick it up, but it was such an encouragement to listen to the message and know someone was thinking of me...
Tonight, as I was walking to the subway station downtown, a short, African-American woman turned around and looked at me at an intersection right before I began walking across the street. It was the same homeless woman I had given my lunch to a week or so ago [there's an overpass downtown where, invariably there is a homeless person or two underneath about every day. I've tried to make it a habit to say hello and give something to people without even thinking about it. For, as Levinas would say, "To know the good, is to not have already done it." People feel human when you recognize their existence.], so I had a feeling she would ask me for money. She did. I said no. She said, "God bless you, you have nice teeth." (I'm serious!) And we went our separate ways.
No less than ten minutes later, I was sitting at the subway stop waiting for my train, and a man came walking towards me from the right. I couldn't hear him very well, given the noise and the fact that I'm deaf in that ear, but I could hear him talking to himself with a bit of an erratic voice. He was scrawny and about my height. As he sat down, I could smell the mixture of body odor and cigarettes. Talking to himself (apparently), he asked 'where the f*** this train was going.' Then he turned to me and asked me a question. Again with my hat on, and all the noise and well, because I was in my heart of hearts, trying to avoid him and get on my train, I didn't hear him and turned and asked him to repeat what he said. "Could you spare me a dollar?" I said no. He kept talking. "Hey, you know which train goes downtown?" His teeth were crooked. He slurred a bit as he talked. Spittle formed at the corners of his mouth as he talked. I responded, "No, actually the trains on the other side go downtown." He laughed and said, "Oh Thanks. Hey give me a five." So I shook his hand.
He kept talking. "So, have you ever heard of Pink Floyd?" "Uh, I've never really listened to him." "Really?! Oh man. This reminded me of a Pink Floyd song." And he proceeded to sing to me some Pink Floyd song about being on the wrong side of the tracks (or something like that). And when he was done with that song, he sang me a couple other of his favorite Pink Floyd songs, making sure to utilize his air guitar. He couldn't believe I hadn't heard any of these songs, and I couldn't believe I was still having this conversation. But amidst all the temptations to be just like everyone else and ignore him or shrug him off, I couldn't help but being intrigued by him and enjoying this conversation from a stranger who was not afraid to practice xenophilia (the greek word for hospitality but literally means a friend or lover of strangers). At this point, my train was arriving, so I stood up to walk to the edge of the platform. He stood up, and was still talking to me, and I was beginning to get a little more aware of all the people around me would might be staring. And then he totally caught me off guard. "Hey, I just want you to know that I prayed all morning that I hope I made a difference in your life." He wasn't paying much attention, but all I could say as I walked toward the train was, "I hope I made a difference in your life too." The last thing I heard was, "And make sure you're not on the wrong side of the tracks...." Wow...
I'm thinking that dollar I found this morning was given to me so I could give it away. And I'm also, oddly enough, wondering if I just met an angel who likes to listen to Pink Floyd. There's something refreshing about being blessed from the most unlikely of places. There are beautiful people around us if we take the chance to look.
And I'm just a scrooge whose been thought of by an old friend, blessed by a homeless lady in camo, and prayed for by a man that couldn't find his way downtown (while he was already downtown...).
So all I can say is at this point is: to cut or not to cut my 'graduate student's/philosopher's' hair - that is the question!
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