A Summer Day

Park benches are great places to make friends. They're also great places to get mugged and kidnapped (especially when you are alone and it's 2am.) But luckily, I didn't get mugged OR kidnapped while I sat on a bench on Eastern Parkway last night. I did, however, make a new friend.

I was listening to music, while staring at the pedestrians, and avoiding eye contact with the sketchy folk, when a stranger approached and asked if he could tell me a poem. It was called "Summer Day" and had nothing to  with the Summer..or a day..or a day in the Summer. I think it was more about looking at yourself from the outside->in as opposed to from the inside->out. I always thought it should be the reverse, but he used lots of reasons to confuse me and think that I was told to think the wrong thing my whole life. I was pretty sure that when you look from the inside->out that you were finding the truth inside a person, as opposed to taking them for how they look on the outside. But apparently he was talking more about your outlook on life and less about external looks. So then I just got more confused.

Two hours later I figured out he was saying that someone can look happy on the outside but actually be broken inside and that if they go from the outside->in they can internalize their external happiness. Still with me? Cuz I'm pretty sure I just lost myself while trying to explain that. But either way, he also taught me about seeing the art and beauty in the world around me. Though his main focus was the beauty in cars, calling the sound of the engine "a symphony," he was also referring to the way the tree trunk curved, the way the light shone through the branches, the people walking along the parkway. Emphasizing that the world is full of art and beauty and you just need to be aware of it to recognize it in everything.

But then he asked for my number and then things got weird cuz nobody will recognize the beauty in rejection.

I should probably start looking for friends elsewhere..