STRANGE AND STRANGER

[schlomo]

Strange and Stranger

During the past week on my walks around the block, I have seen a grab bag of humanity.

Amazingly to me, a man in wheelchair adroitly used two crutches to maneuver across the street and then press on to his destination. What a feat! At first I was impressed by his perseverance. But after I continued in the opposite direction, I felt drawn to this man who at least in this instance sparred with and outwitted his disability.

Another man was not so successful. During all four of my lengthy laps, I saw him in his parked car painstakingly trying to adjust the rear-view mirror. I wondered if he had continuously fidgeted with the mirror while I was walking or if he had taken a break in between. Was he a frustrated perfectionist, or was he tinkering with the mirror because he was bored? In either case, he was having a hard time. Perhaps he was revisiting Groundhog Day. In fact, he looked a bit like Bill Murray.

Yesterday I witnessed a much more unnerving scene. A small raggedy man was shouting obscenities (mostly the F-bomb) at a group of people waiting for a bus across the street. One of the prospective passengers, tall and muscled, was so outraged that he started to chase the foul-mouthed runt. Ironically, at the same time, he was swearing at him, spewing out the same F-bombs (with a bit of ribald embroidery) that the other man was so obsessed with. Soon both men rounded the corner and out of my sight. I wish I could have watched the last act of the spectacle (from a discrete distance), but I continued to hustle on my path home. 

I usually see a few odd people during my daily walk in Waikiki, but last week was exceptionally surreal.