I came into unfortunate contact with the food saver (ok so I wanted to see if the suction would be strong enough to hold the food saver itself) and wound up with a hickey in the form of a cross hairs centered on my forehead. As embarrassing as this was on the first day of classes, Im thankful it happened. Those who know me laugh because they know the story, and know Im the same person. But those who dont know me are the ones I catch awkwardly staring before quickly turning their heads. It was interesting to see how people reacted to it when meeting me. Do I look at it? Do I mention it? Is that real, or...? Dude whats up with your face? Nobody asked with their voices, but everybody silently asked with their faces. It took me having to break the ice by sharing the story before people began to laugh and joke around with me, getting to know the kind of guy I am and the stupid scenarios in which I often find myself. I can come out of my first day honestly believing I will make many new friends this semester. But it got me thinking... what if it couldnt simply excuse/rationalize my appearance with a story? What if the skin Im in, to which I never pay any mind, were black? Lets all strive to be more open, tolerant, and accepting of one another. Lets make it a mission to get to know someone before judging them. We have made great strides over the years, but if you want to know how much work we that is yet to be done, grab yourself a food saver and start sucking away at your forehead. For those of you that took the time to read this, thank you. And yes, the suction was strong enough to hold itself to my forehead.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:19:00 +0000