Unblocking My View

I truly believe in synchronicity. Well it was close to synchronicity anyway, when I got the idea that we should reward people, especially young people, for small acts of consideration. I opened the Garden Island this morning and saw that they're now posting "ads" of congratulations that readers can send in. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but there's potential there (if you want to spend $16 anyway).

I got the idea after a small incident that occurred on Saturday night at the Kapaa Hongwanji bon dance. The incident in itself was another sort of synchronicity except more of a unsynchronicity, for lack of a real word:

When we arrived at the bon dance with our folding chairs, I suggested we set up the chairs in a row directly behind the people sitting in the church-supplied chairs. "Why so close?" my hub asked. Well you know me, always trying to outwit, I figured if we left a wider space between us and the other seated spectators, someone will inevitably stand in front of us, blocking our view. Leonard rolled his eyes, but cooperatively set up the chairs where I indicated, leaving less than 2 feet between us and the chairs in front of us.

You know what's coming, don't you?

Despite what I thought was a fail-proof plan, this wide teen-aged girl situated herself immediately to my left, standing in the narrow space in front of Jordan's empty chair (of course Jordan wasn't sitting there because she was dancing). Narrowing my view, this wide girl stood there rubbing the shoulders of her boyfriend who sat in the chair in front of her. Now in the first place, why is he sitting and making her stand? If she hadn't been wearing a t-shirt whose message I approved of --I won't go so far as to identify the t-shirt because who wants to be labeled "wide" anyway--I would've been really really annoyed, but instead I was simply annoyed. I sat there with the view that "kids nowadays have no consideration!" (If you read my earliest blog entry last July, you'd know that my biggest pet peeve is inconsiderate people.)

So ok, after an hour or so the standing girl and her ungentlemanly boyfriend left, as well as the person who sat next to him, leaving two empty seats. A few minutes later, a teen-aged boy asked Leonard, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting in those chairs?" Leonard said no. The boy then asked "Is it ok if we sit there?" Leonard said sure. My ears just about fell off when the boy said "Thanks, we didn't want to block your guys' view." Oh my god. [Unless he's a mindreader, he had no idea of what I'd been thinking, nor could he have overheard my earlier muttered complaints to Leonard.]

So you see what I mean by unsynchronicity. Only because of the wide girl's inconsideration did the boy's consideration get magnified to heroic proportions in my mind. And guess what, both he and his friend were skinny. I wish I got a look at them, but I didn't even see their faces. Thinking back on the incident later, I wish I could've somehow complimented him or acknowledged his thoughtfulness. Or taken his photo to post in the newspaper.

Small incidents like this help me enjoy life and its ironies. Now I'm wondering what message was on his t-shirt.