THE FOLLIES

[schlomo]

The Follies

While traveling on TheBus the other day, I was seated across from a couple of giggly, sleek young ladies. Just as the bus stopped at a light, these cutesy twenty-somethings began to simultaneously push at the rear exit door. It didn’t budge. But that did not deter them. They struggled even harder, laughing all the time at their plight in trying to get off the bus.

No one told them that the doors can’t be opened for people to get off at a red light. I was tempted to reveal the truth, but I was mesmerized at the young ladies’ unflappable persistence. The bus driver, finally aware of the uproarious situation, cautioned them that the doors can be opened only when the bus stops at its designated spots. The young ladies, apparently wanting nothing more to do with the recalcitrant rear door, moved to the front of the bus and good-naturedly exited at the next stop when the door opened automatically.

I observed someone else that day being clueless—this time at a grocery store checkout.  An elderly man was waiting for a woman ahead of him in line to remove the last item in her huge stack of groceries so that he could begin to pay for his own stuff. As he took out his credit card, his wife whacked him on the hand. The wife was aware that the woman at the counter had not yet paid for her groceries. What a mess would have ensued if the husband had continued to use his credit card for someone else’s merchandise! The husband was contrite; the wife then affectionately patted him on the cheek.

No matter what age we might be, we at times confuse appearance with reality. We get misled by unreliable clues.

That only makes us human, for better or for worse.