Every so often there are moments in passing conversation that ring true. Today, for example, I saw a fellow professor walking to class and she saw me as well. She didn’t speak. Her head was down, blonde hair swaying slightly as she turned away to avoid the contact. I said hello anyway. It was polite, but also it was me forcing something in order to see how she would react. She smiled and engaged me in the type of small talk you do while you are both still walking in your separate directions. The kind that rises in volume and withers in value. Still the smile never rose past her cheeks. It wasn’t that she was upset or disliked me. We always have this banter. Instead I believe she was focused on getting to where she needed to be at 7 in the morning and not truly caring about building community while that task was at hand. That there is the true of it. For her it was a moment of deciding what was more meaningful and for me it was recognizing real vs. false. All too often I struggle with recognizing the things that are true and truly right in front of my eyes. The romantic in me likes to believe in the best of a situation, but when you reduce it down to the bare essentials, life can be like that encounter–one person trying to handle what needs handling but kept from that task by someone just screwing around.
I can apply this maxim over and again. It makes for good fiction and harmful reality. The people who tend to interrupt us in life come forward with a different agenda and set of values and ordinations of importance than those trying to accomplish a goal. I remember when my mother came to visit last the kids and I were watching our favorite show and trying to catch every bit of dialogue, as we do. She did not see the value there and interrupted us in order to ask questions and, specifically, question why we were not paying more attention to her in that moment as she was only going to be in town a few more days. Different agendas and one clouds the other.
There is truth in that. Everywhere.