the blister on my left heel and the presence of God

the blister on my left heel and the presence of God were two of the things that spurred me from this house tonight.
and two things that nearly got me arrested.
way to go america.

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it is 12.47am on Sunday morning, the 26th of August, 2007. i leave for Tanzania in a little over 12 days.

so i have a lot of stuff to think and pray about.
so, naturally, as people do when they have a lot on their minds and hearts.
i took a walk. or, started to, rather.

barely six or seven houses down, and just as i'm rounding the corner to start my round about the block, a middle-aged couple drives by, pulls a U-ey at the intersection i'm turning at, and pulls up next to me.



(at the same time)
man: "hey. what are you doing?"
woman: "do you live in the neighborhood?"

me: "i'm walkin'."

(at the same time)
woman: "do you live in the neighborhood?"
man: "with a backpack?"

me: "yeah, just down at 4014."

man: "why are you walking?"

me: "because... i... want to."

man: "well, should we call somebody?"

me: "no, you don't need to."

(at the same time)
man: "well, someone walking around at... 12.40 at night, with a backpack and no shoes... i mean..."
woman: (under her breath) "maybe you should just go home."

me: "i'm kinda weird"

man: "yeah, i'll say."

(at the same time)
man: "you should just go home."
woman: (to her husband) "oh don't."

me: "you want me to just go home?"

man: "well, yeah, or i'm gonna call someone."

me: "okay..."


i turn around and walk back, cursing them under my breath.
just because i don't fit into the mold of standard suburbia, i'm thought of as a threat.
if anyone ever wondered what i can't stand about suburbia, this is just one example of what sucks about it. i can't take a walk, in which i'm not threatening to anyone at all, just because i look weird to them. nothing about what i'm wearing is terribly different except for the lack of shoes. apparently a back-pack on a student, in a college town, is a red flag of a terrorist, or even worse... a homeless person!

suburbia: "oh no! whatever shall we do?! i'm so frightened!"

me: "grow up."


me: "i can't wait to leave this country."

at least in Africa if someone stops me from walking at night, it'll actually be a legitimate concern.

i shoulda asked that couple why they were out driving so late.
but then again, they're normal, right, so driving around in the dark, in an un-lit vehicle, oh and that whole illegal U-turn thing, that's all perfectly acceptable at 12.40 at night. who knows what kinds of frickin explosives (or bodies) they could have had in the trunk.

since when was a single person more suspicious than a group travelling in an encased vehicle?



God get me outta here, and do us freaks a favor, please, and shatter the bubbles of 'normal' people. they're blind. make them see, please.