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Sitting Still
Written by TM
On a bench near the Centennial Student Union there sits a young man in plain clothes with a lax expression on his face. In his hands he holds his two ears. You cant sit on a bench with ears in your hands and not on your head without someone noticing. In fact, the chances are, everyone will notice. Stick the ears back on and sit at the same spot and no one will give you a second look. Some wont give you the first. Its the ears, all about the ears, where they are, and more importantly, where they arent. Or so that is what the man sitting on the bench with the ears in his hands would like to believe.
The man on the bench stays there, an hour turns into two and two hours turns into a half of a day. Almost everyone that passes looks his direction. He smiles and nods at every one of them. Their reactions are different. Some quickly turn away and never meet his eyes. Some just keep staring until they knock into a person coming from the other direction who was also just staring. The collision makes faces turn red and it makes the man on the bench shakes his head, not in disgust, but in the kind of way you do when you know that someone has just made a complete fool of himself. What the man doesnt see is the college student streaking along the mall behind him.
Theres a third kind of reaction the man notices while sitting there idle on the bench. This is the reaction he hopes for from everyone and enjoys. Some people, or maybe it is only a few, return his smile and return the nod. Some even say hi and ask, How are you? What great and wonderful people these are. They are people who see past the ears and into the person. The man would give them hugs, kisses, a private island, and a trip to the moon if he could. All that appreciation just because some people didnt just stare and didnt just turn their heads in shame when they realized they werent looking at the man but at the body parts.
Should we shame the first two groups who just stare or look away? No, shame on the man for sitting on the bench with his ears in his hands for hours on end judging people solely on the way they react to him sitting there like a fool. Shame on the man for thinking the same three groups of people dont also exist for the man sitting across the way, or the beautiful blonde surrounded by all the teenage guys. Shame on the man for thinking he is different. Shame on the man for just sitting idle when there is much he could do about those reactions. Shame on the man for his self-pity, as he thinks no one talks to him because he is earless, never realizing that no one talks to him because he sits on that bench holding his ears all day.
Its easy to blame everyone else for the problems you face. For the man on the bench it is easy for him to blame his lack of a social life on his missing body parts. For the man on the bench it is easy to judge those who look away or dont say hi as not understanding, or snobs. What the man on the bench doesnt think about is the fact that he never said hi to the man sitting across the way earlier that morning when he came walking to his current spot. In fact, he looked at him, the man looked back, and he turned away. Yet thats normal he reasons. It is, however, not normal when a person looks at someone holding his ears and then quickly looks away, no, that shows an ignorant person and an insensitive one. We must go out of our way to be accepting of people who are different. Newsflash, we are all different.
The man hasnt figured out that it takes two to talk, to socialize, and to engage in conversation. The man hasnt figured out that no one cares about his missing ears just like most of you probably havent figured out that no one cares about that pimple on your face. Certain things are more noticeable than others, and certain people tend to dwell on certain differences more than others. Its a sad fact of life that we notice the differences in people long before the similarities. However, if you yourself cant get past your own differences, how is anyone else going to? You have to lead to be followed. That man could stand up, put his ears on, and be a part of society, but instead you can still find him sitting on that bench at high noon just staring at his ears waiting for someone to save him. Yet the only person capable of doing that is the same man sitting on that same bench looking at those same ears. Hes the only one.
Sitting Still
Written by TM
On a bench near the Centennial Student Union there sits a young man in plain clothes with a lax expression on his face. In his hands he holds his two ears. You cant sit on a bench with ears in your hands and not on your head without someone noticing. In fact, the chances are, everyone will notice. Stick the ears back on and sit at the same spot and no one will give you a second look. Some wont give you the first. Its the ears, all about the ears, where they are, and more importantly, where they arent. Or so that is what the man sitting on the bench with the ears in his hands would like to believe.
The man on the bench stays there, an hour turns into two and two hours turns into a half of a day. Almost everyone that passes looks his direction. He smiles and nods at every one of them. Their reactions are different. Some quickly turn away and never meet his eyes. Some just keep staring until they knock into a person coming from the other direction who was also just staring. The collision makes faces turn red and it makes the man on the bench shakes his head, not in disgust, but in the kind of way you do when you know that someone has just made a complete fool of himself. What the man doesnt see is the college student streaking along the mall behind him.
Theres a third kind of reaction the man notices while sitting there idle on the bench. This is the reaction he hopes for from everyone and enjoys. Some people, or maybe it is only a few, return his smile and return the nod. Some even say hi and ask, How are you? What great and wonderful people these are. They are people who see past the ears and into the person. The man would give them hugs, kisses, a private island, and a trip to the moon if he could. All that appreciation just because some people didnt just stare and didnt just turn their heads in shame when they realized they werent looking at the man but at the body parts.
Should we shame the first two groups who just stare or look away? No, shame on the man for sitting on the bench with his ears in his hands for hours on end judging people solely on the way they react to him sitting there like a fool. Shame on the man for thinking the same three groups of people dont also exist for the man sitting across the way, or the beautiful blonde surrounded by all the teenage guys. Shame on the man for thinking he is different. Shame on the man for just sitting idle when there is much he could do about those reactions. Shame on the man for his self-pity, as he thinks no one talks to him because he is earless, never realizing that no one talks to him because he sits on that bench holding his ears all day.
Its easy to blame everyone else for the problems you face. For the man on the bench it is easy for him to blame his lack of a social life on his missing body parts. For the man on the bench it is easy to judge those who look away or dont say hi as not understanding, or snobs. What the man on the bench doesnt think about is the fact that he never said hi to the man sitting across the way earlier that morning when he came walking to his current spot. In fact, he looked at him, the man looked back, and he turned away. Yet thats normal he reasons. It is, however, not normal when a person looks at someone holding his ears and then quickly looks away, no, that shows an ignorant person and an insensitive one. We must go out of our way to be accepting of people who are different. Newsflash, we are all different.
The man hasnt figured out that it takes two to talk, to socialize, and to engage in conversation. The man hasnt figured out that no one cares about his missing ears just like most of you probably havent figured out that no one cares about that pimple on your face. Certain things are more noticeable than others, and certain people tend to dwell on certain differences more than others. Its a sad fact of life that we notice the differences in people long before the similarities. However, if you yourself cant get past your own differences, how is anyone else going to? You have to lead to be followed. That man could stand up, put his ears on, and be a part of society, but instead you can still find him sitting on that bench at high noon just staring at his ears waiting for someone to save him. Yet the only person capable of doing that is the same man sitting on that same bench looking at those same ears. Hes the only one.
That and I write every essay independent, believing that the reader probably doesn't know that much about the writer or the story or whatever. I can't just assume that everyone has read many or any of my essays. 
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