Big Pond

Big Pond...

Was I annoyed at the Vietnamese man who went and stood himself

directly in front of all of us at the kindergarten program?

He did make a better door than I window -tis true.

But no, I was not annoyed.

I was reminded.

Was I impatient with the elderly Chinese woman at JoAnn's Fabrics?  

She fussed away about "unmarked thread" making her total too high.

Did it annoy?

No.  Not at all.  I smiled.

I continued smiling as she counted her returned one dollar bills in frustration.  

"Too many!"

I was amused at her request for an envelope.

Tickled when she folded up a flyer to make one instead.

I was disturbed however,

With the body-pierced clerk

Who seemed impatient when she replied,

"Because it's not my job to post price-labels."

Disturbed because she doesn't have the perspective it takes,

To live in Hong Kong, Danang, or Seoul...

Or Washington DC for that matter.

What one sees as selfish behavior,

I see as a survival skill learned by the overpopulated culture.

It takes aggressive behavior to be a small fish in a big pond, 

With millions of other fish.

(I actually took this photo)