I AM A DISCO DANCER
for two seconds, waiting for Ansley and Jacob to catch up on their
bikes (if only they would stop taking breaks to smell the
flowers). But two seconds was plenty of time for the mob to close
in. No one asked, "Where are you from?" or "What's your
name?" Nope. Just good-old, silent, arms-crossed staring. I don't
mean like three people either. One person seems to be permission for
twenty-five others to join in the steady gaze. I'm fairly used to
it by now, but sometimes I want to just give them something to look
at. Maybe do a dance, start singing a loud solo real off tune, or
run at them screaming like a crazy girl. Then they'd have something
actually interesting to watch. :) But I was too tired to do
anything interesting and I just let them stare. But then Daniel said
something that struck a beautiful chord in me. He was also at the
center of this ring as we waited and gave a quizzical look directed
at the spectators and kindly pointed out in French, "What are you
looking at kids? She is a person just like you." I'm a person
just like you!
Before I came here to Chad, Fletcher, Laura, my dad and I went to
the fair. I love being a third wheel with Fletcher and Laura. They
are so fun. Of course my dad is absolutely the best so it was an
evening to remember. Fletcher, Laura and I decided that we wanted a
funnel cake. The line was pretty long in comparison to the Elephant
Ear line but we decided the wait would be worth it. Soon, the
greasy wall of hot air hit us and we knew we're getting close to the
front. We'd been standing in line with other drooling patrons for
quite a while and so I was starting to feel a little bonded to
them. I decided I would comment on our common ground. I leaned
forward to the girl ahead of me and said, "Wow, I almost caved in and
just got an Elephant ear." The girl totally didn't hear me. Or
maybe she just completely ignored me. Either way, I was left hanging
on my last word, waiting for a response that wasn't coming, while
Fletcher and Laura laughed hysterically at my very unsuccessful
attempt to connect to this girl.
Common ground (when you stand on it) is awesome. Sometimes here in
Africa it's like, "Wow, we are from really different worlds. What do
we have in common?" But then there will be times when I connect in
funny moments like when my mother here did a cartwheel triggering a
gymnastics session together or when Mounden sang, "I am a disco
dancer" (thank-you static radio) or when we played soccer out in the
blazing sun behind the church. Connection! Gotta' keep trying to
connect to people. Even if you get shut down from time to
time. Even if attempts at connection fail. The few times when
sparks fly and you, for a few seconds, actually feel like you're
reading the same page of the same book and laughing at the same
parts....So worth it. Risk-to reward ratio: Very good.
1 comment:
the same kind of different as me.
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