People

One of greatest joys of life is watching people.  Why?  Because we hate to watch ourselves and our own bad behavior.  Arguably, my whole blog endeavour could be viewed as bad behavior by some, but I look at it as a way for me to vent my frustrations, share my thoughts and deliver my own little brand of therapy to myself...   BUT, moving on....  I generally hate going to the mall. The stores are expensive, the spaces are crowded, and parking is horrendous, but it's a great place to plop down with a pretzel and a drink and people watch. When my grandmother was alive she used to love to sit and watch people walk by and try to figure out whether the people walking together were related or friends, who was who in the family dynamic, etc.  She also loved to watch women walk by with long beautiful hair (she was nearly bald at this time and wore a wig...).  Whenever I see someone with long hair, to this day I think "Wow - Mema would have loved that!".  Another good place to people watch is on the bus; however this is a bit more difficult because people are looking around and notice when you are watching them. Sometimes they don't like to be watched and sometimes they are paranoid.  Then they want to know why you looked at them and then it can get very ugly.  So, I've decided that when I retire I'm going to get a part time job as a local city bus driver.  I can check the rear view mirror all I want without being questioned as to why (gotta see out the back ya know!!)... I can drive all around town, meet new people and provide a safe place for those who have no place to go. :(  Some of you know that I work in the mental health field and find it fascinating.  It always amazes me to see people who have gone from absolutely nothing to finding themselves through some small piece of hope or enlightenment and then re-establishing themselves into individuals who are educated, competent, helpful and eager to give back. I've seen some go on to establish successful businesses, build group homes or drop in centers to help others, staff soup kitchens, teach employment skills, etc.  All because they finally "got" what was going on and decided to follow through with the necessary treatment, difficult as it may be, in order to be the best they can. So, they next time you're out people watching and see someone that you think may need some help, remember, they may be the next successful entrepreneur and a smile might be all it takes for them to get started :)