Okay, quick pre-amble. This post is going to touch upon topics that I'd not intended to touch upon yet. Also, it's got some deep-down emotional shit up in it. If you don't wanna see "the softer side of me", GTFO(Get the Fuck Out).
Okay, here goes. I'm at work today, when I hear what is the unmistakable crinkling of the plastic tray of a box of chocolate covered cherry cordials (love these things). Problem is, the only people left in my office are me and one other person and I sure as hell didn't get lucky. The other person happens to be Coptic, so that means he's fasting his ass off (aka: eating vegan). He also happens to be type-2 diabetic and insulin dependent. Being me, I immediately fire off an instant message questioning his eating of said delicious confectioneries strictly due to his diabetes (and my greed). He was a bit shocked at first, but quickly assured me that his blood sugar was low, and that's why he was out of the normal routine, but it was just that, elevating his blood sugar to normal levels.
This got me to message Eric, my partner. I asked "Why do I feel the need to be everyone's mother?" To which, he replied, "I don't know, why do you?" To those unsure of how my mind works, it's Usually in about ten different spaces at any given time. Today, it was on the drive home, the Tupac album I'd bought on Google Music and writing this post. Why Do I feel the need to be everyone's mother. Then I remembered why.
Again, I hadn't intended to touch upon this yet. But, it all goes back to a Halloween parade and me being 17 and a random ass skateboard kid. In addition to that, I strongly hold the belief that the first person that is there to pick you up from rock bottom, is the person who's already been there themselves. Anyway, I was a random ass skateboard kid pretty much all of my teen years, all the way up to leaving for the Army at 19. This particular occasion saw me sitting on the stops of what turned out to be Democratic Election Committee Headquarters (aka random ass office building that sees use two times a year). Anyway, I'm sitting there and this guy comes out and starts to hassle me to move, I'm preventing people from coming in to register to vote. Initially, I'm about to rage face, and basically be a dick, but for some reason I didn't. Instead I asked if there was a chance that perhaps I could Help get people registering to vote. I'd stated earlier that I was always sort of manipulative, or doing what ever I felt necessary to get ahead. The intent this time was to make a few quick bucks running around on my 'board asking people to register to vote, and maybe earning enough cash to get some Chinese steamed dumplings at the end of the night.
In addition to the rock bottom belief, I also feel that a person who has truly been hurt, can see that in someone else, and it will often motivate them to try to help. Sure enough, not only was I invited in for a warm cup of coffee (it was cold, like 40ish degrees, mid-October night), I was also signed up for a week stint of skating around, attempting to get people to register to vote, regardless of party but three cheers if Democrat.
During this week, I checked in every day, dropped off my forms, picked up my payment, and had some coffee and chat. For the first time, I was helping someone who didn't really want to take advantage of me, for anything that wasn't really just plain normal. If anything, I felt that I was taking advantage of them. I mean shit, who doesn't want to skateboard around town, knock on a few doors and get paid for it. Shit was good.