Thoughts from Campus

Yesterday I was walking between classes and had a few thoughts that I thought might be worth mentioning on my blog. I haven't written much because with the weekly e-mails to Stephen, usually my noteworthy things are put in there. However, I had some musings that I decided to share on here.

It's good to know that I had my i-pod in, so I couldn't really hear the outside world, which left me alone to my thoughts. I don't often walk around with headphones in because I like to be able to say hello, but I had them in yesterday for some reason. As I walked between my first two classes I passed a guy that I've met before. I don't remember him very well. I remember that he looks very thick. Thick neck, thick arms, thick jaw, thick head, thick limbs. His head kind of reminded me of a box turtle--thick and compact. He just looks really solid all the way through and could probably go through a lot of guys in sports. I got the chance to see him once (I don't remember how long ago or what I met him through) but I remember he was really kind of an introverted guy. Very nice and soft spoken. It helped me remember that people aren't always what they seem on the outside.

I next passed by a guy who had an obvious physical disability. He walked by teetering from leg to leg. A very stiff motion. He had his hands locked across his chest, much the way a choir or opera singer might lock them. I imagined that he probably locked his hands because it helped him balance in some way. I turned the corner and as I was walking down the hill from the crabtree towards the snell, which is by the law building kind of, I saw another interesting figure. This third guy was sporting a mustache, curly brown hair that was kind of longer, and tight jeans. He seemed to me to have hair from the 70's and clothes from the 80's.

I thought as I walked by him that it is a very amazing blessing that we have to be able to pursue our own ideas and passions. That guy wants to dress like that, so he can. He can be an individual. He can be different if he wants to be. I just thought about how wonderful it is that we can each do that. Perhaps if he was the first guy I came across I would have thought he was weird. However, after looking at the first two and thinking about them as individuals and their lives/circumstances I think I was less prone to call the third guy weird.

The last thing I'll point out is that the farther away from the third guy I got, the more time I had to think, and the older I realized I am becoming. The give away with this thought process. "That guy's clothes were definitely an 80's style. I wonder when that will all come back in. I may start teaching in an era where the kids all pull their socks up over their jeans to get them as tight around their ankles as possible. I remember when I wore baggy jeans. Would I rather have the kids in my school dressing in baggy jeans or thin jeans? ... Probably neither. I think I'd like them to just be clean-cut and dress conservatively. Oh man, that probably means I'm old."