I took the bus from my office and got off near the store- I still had a 10-15 minute walk but that's nothing. I'm walking along, minding my own business when I realize my sandal isn't walking with me. Shoot. It's broken. And it wasn't just the "pop it back in" kind of broken- it was broken broken. Now I have 3 choices, I can keep walking barefoot (and that is just dumb- there is broken glass everywhere, not to mention a million other things I shouldn't be walking on), I can find a fundi (a guy who repairs shoes) but I don't know of any on the road I'm walking on, or I can find a new sandal. I've often thought I should carry an extra pair of sandals in my bag for just such a purpose but of course I don't do that because who has room for an extra pair of sandals?? I'm not too far from a place that sells shoes so I backtrack and find a new pair of sandals (and the sales people all giggle at my one sandal on, one sandal in my hand entrance to the store, but I was laughing too). Crisis averted. And I continue on my way to the grocery store.
I walked the 10 minutes to the store and I had another errand to run at this mall. I had dropped a spare key at the theater there 2 weeks ago and I'd been back at least 2 other times to pick it up but it wasn't there. The employees could confirm that they had found it, and they knew it was mine but the manager had it or something and he was never there when I was (don't worry mom it wasn't a key to my house or anything). So I was out to pick up my lost key. Finally got that back!! Awesome! So I'm thinking this afternoon has been inconvenient but still a win. My shoe broke near enough to a shoe place that it wasn't a major crisis and I finally got my key back from the theater. Great. Now on to groceries.
I shopped and the checkout lines were long, as they always are on Friday afternoons. I expect that. I was enjoying listening to my headphones and just waiting when the guy in front of me wants to chat. That's cool. He's got to be at least 80. That should be interesting. Yeah- he's been in-country since the colonial era. And he felt the need to loudly extoll the wonders of colonialism and British rule and how that had to do with the length of the lines. AWKWARD!!! Yeah the lines were long and yeah we would be waiting a while but that truly has nothing to do with who is ruling the country! Its 5pm on Friday- the lines are always long! Colonialism was no good. All countries desire to be free of a foreign ruler- that they are better off with that freedom!! And even if you held colonial views (which I do not, by the way- freedom is good) perhaps the very long, crowded line isn't the place to be talking about it!! Where the majority of the people who will hear you are the very people you are insulting!! I always take the view that I'm a guest in this country- I may have opinions but I don't parade them around. So this guy goes on, and on and on- all the while I am looking for any escape. But there was none to be had. Until the cashier at the till closed our lane down because of a problem and I practically ran the other direction so I wouldn't end up in line with this guy again!!
I have no patience for people who hold to ideas of "degrees of humanity". People are people. One group isn't better. One isn't worse. One isn't smarter. Its not always a black or white issue either. People are always trying to tell me why one tribe is better then another. Cultures are diverse and that is awesome- that diversity means we all have strengths and weakness as cultures. But people are people. Can't we just leave it at that??
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