Traffic

In times of trouble, we sometimes revert to our vicious nature. Few revert to the smile, the compassion, the awareness of fleeting time.

One of my best friends was let go by our employer today. He is one of the rare who reverts to the smile, the handshake, the hug, when lesser people would revert to finger pointing.

He came to my office in the middle of the day, as he often does. But he was prepared for the weather and packed for what seemed like a long trip.

His eyes were red. He was fighting the nature to cry.

He just strode in and, without fanfare, said, “They let me go.”

I thought he meant to the Met game.

That’s how dumb I am.

Then I saw the tears.

Ow.

Insert awkward silence here. Insert hidden tears and open compassion here. Insert inability to speak for the rest of the day here.

He has a totally cool son (a son that inspires ME to want to do the fun work with a woman and then raise a child.) He has a really bad knee from an old football injury. He has the coolest of cool dispositions.

He smiled and said there were no worries. His eyes belied him. He was terribly sad.

I stopped working, made my rounds, went home.

So did he.

Come Monday, one of us is gonna have a new take on things.