Dear Jen, I was thinking of you the other day. I was going to post a ‘don’t be an asshole’ video to you myself. I was at a gas station and this middle aged man was pumping my gas in the freezing cold NY weather. He wouldn’t make eye contact with me as he took out his squeegee and cleaned my window. It reminded me of my dad, who worked three jobs to put me through private school. One of his jobs was a night janitor at a bank. He was embarrassed that he cleaned floors and wouldn’t tell people what he did for a living. I didn’t care though. Sometimes he would take me with him so we could spend time together. He let me stand on the floor buffer as he polished the floors and we pretended we were dancing. I didn’t see a ‘janitor’. I saw my dad. I smiled at this man, I wanted him to know I saw him. SAW HIM. As a person. Not just someone cleaning my window. A human being. People were assholes to my dad. They didn’t see a man putting food on his table; doing an honest day’s work. They saw someone who just emptied trash cans. My life is what it is because I stand on his shoulders. I had a private school education and no student loans because of those nights cleaning floors, parking cars and delivering laundry. Thanks for making me think of that. Thanks for ensuring that there are fewer assholes in this world. Xo Kathleen Emmets. *Make sure you are subscribed to The Manifest-Station via email. Thanks as always to my family at SimpleReminders!! via Jennifer Pastiloff
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 06:00:59 +0000
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