Peur du jour- 26 Mars 2012- Flashin' the pearly whites
Today I had a bizarre encounter with an old Arab man on the bus on the way back from volunteering at the lycée. I was staring out the window, lost in my head and minding my own business when I felt three strong taps on my shoulder. As I turned around I half expected to be someone from UNC or my church group (I had already run into a friend at the TAM office earlier this morning!), but to my surprise, it was a stranger. In my head, I have named him Monsieur Ibrahim and our conversation was as follows:
Ibrahim: You look very upset.
Me: Pardon?
I: You look like someone has made you angry.
Me: No, I'm not angry at all.
I: Well you look very upset.
M: No, I'm not upset, just pensive.
I: Well, you have an air of being very upset. Your fiancé didn't just leave you, I trust?
M: [stammering stupidly]
I: Oh, you don't have a fiancé?
M: No, I don't have a fiancé.
I: Is that why you're upset? I bet you'll have a fiancé, a pretty girl like you.
M: Thank you, but I'm not upset.
I: Well you should smile! Life is too short to be upset. And I bet you'll find your fiancé.
Bizarre.
While I definitely was not upset on the bus, I was kind of in the midst of worrying about things. Worrying about my lack of summer job/internship, worrying about my life after college, worrying about how my aversion to the pursuit of money may not be entirely practical, worrying about how much life back home has changed, worrying about how I'm going to shape French-Kathleen back with American-Kathleen. Worrying, worrying, worrying.
And this little interaction was a bit of a splash of cold water.
Life is too short to spend time worrying. Nothing under His control is out of control. And for that, I'll smile.
PS) Talk about a cultural contradiction. This time the goofy American golden retriever was picked out for NOT smiling.
Strangers sometimes see something that we can't see. Reminds me of that story I told you about Christmas day in Nashville. Dan was upset about me spending money on a haircut and color in the Church Parking lot and a homeless came by asking for money and Dan can lit into him so he backed away. Before we could get to our pew another old friendly man saw how cute Lauren was and came to my side and shoved 10 dollars in my hand for me to buy Lauren something special for Christams. Sometimes we do have to have strangers give us perspective.
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