GagDragon

Posts Tagged ‘empathy’

when i was 7 years old, i was riding my bike around the neighborhood and saw a friend of mine’s family in the yard staring at the front door as movers were taking large pieces of furniture out and loading them into a truck.

i saw my friend holding on to his ma’s leg and her arm around his shoulder.

i had this idea that they were being evicted or having hard financial times or some shit

but i pedaled home and told my mom and she basically gave me the “aww that’s too bad” face with the scrunched up chin and the head tilt. i thought that there was something i had to do for my little buddy so i quickly went through my baseball cards and found all my doubles and hopped back on my bike and drove over to the baseball card store and asked for cash for my dubs.

the owner gave me what i remember to be something crappy like 8 bucks for a good 20 cards, but it was my only option at that particular juncture. so i pocketed the cash and got back on my bike and hightailed it over to my buddy’s house to maybe save their house with my 8 dollar donation.

by the time i pulled in the driveway the moving truck was sealed and there was no one in the yard acting sad. so i rang the doorbell.

the mom came to the door, and i remember her from many of my early nocturnal emissions – man she was a doll, she came to the door like nothing was wrong.

so i asked for my buddy and when he came towards the door i took the 8 bucks out of my pocket and thrust it out towards him and his mom.

“what’s this joel?” the hot mom in the tight white fuzzy workout pants before they were fashionable says.

“it’s all i could raise on such short notice. i dont want you to lose your home”

she gave me this confused slash “maybe i should take off my shirt for you joel” look and tilted her head at me and said “what are you talking about?”

so i looked up into her hazelnut eyes, shooed out the thoughts of her washing my bike on a windy day with really cold water and said “i saw the moving truck here taking stuff out and i saw you guys looking sad and…”

i stopped talking as she put a fist on her hip with all of her weight on her right leg and said “joel, we’re not moving. we got new furniture. come look.”

as she walked away her backside called to me “rose bud. rose bud. rose bud.” i will never forget those hips in those pants for as long as i live. but i followed her alongside my friend and walked into the living room and saw their new furniture.

it was my first experience with a “microfiber” couch, with scotchguard. the recliner wasnt a pull lever, it was a fucking button!

nice couch.

but i went home and my mom asked me what is going on with my friend and his family and the moving truck and i told her i was mistaken and they were just getting new furniture and getting rid of the old stuff.

my mom, in a very mom way, told me what i experienced was empathy. while misplaced and completely wrong in every way, i discovered that i have an innate ability to feel what i think other people are feeling and i find myself using it alot.

i have a hard time with people suffering. if a friend of mine is in pain, or a kid i know is in pain, or going through a difficult time, i find myself empathizing with them and thinking positive shit for them. i know i cant always give all my money or time to someone and fix all of their problems, but i give it thought quite a bit.

even though i made an assumption and it was incorrect, i still empathized with my friend and his family because i didnt WANT that bad shit to happen to him and the only way i knew to help was to give something of mine to help their situation.

i hope my kids think like that when they get older.

cause every time they do, ill think of mrs. tight white fuzzy workout pants before they became fashionable and her hips that, to this day, give me pause to adjust myself.

*shrugs*

*adjusts pants*

*waves*

*makes “call me” hand sign and puts to mouth and ear in telephone like precision*