Thursday, February 6, 2014

People

So....this might be a really stupid idea. But, I've met some really cool people here...and well....and you know, meeting people usually makes me way too thoughtful for my own good. So I thought I might try something new.

It's sort of to practice describing people, because I'm horrible at it, and I still plan on writing a book or two or ten sometime so I need to get better at describing people, but it's also partly to try and give you all back home a sense of the sort of people I've met.

So here's what I'm doing: I've met a bunch of people. Sometimes I've gotten a chance to spend a lot of time with them, sometimes I've only talked with them for a few minutes. But there's some moment or another that I particularly remember them in. I'm going to try and describe that moment. Or I'll just try and describe that person with a few phrases that come to mind, or little snippets of moments. We'll see what happens.

But I'm wary. I'm wary. Why?

I know that these descriptions are pretty surface level. Their just snaps of what I've seen of this person. They certainly won't capture that person in all their complexity, but only just brush the surface, a shallow description of them from my perspective of them.

So, yes, I'm wary.

Here's an example:

Br.

He’s only my dad’s age, but his hair is already frosted over with grey. He’s had a hard few years though.

B’s voice is a gentl lilt. Soft, thoughtful, he speaks slowly, considering each word, each sentence. He’s a man of thought, you can tell it by his voice. But he’s also a man of action, you can see it when he walks.

He often goes to his mom’s house to help her keep up the land she owns, cutting up fallen trees, splitting wood, helping with the animals.

One afternoon over lunch, he talked our ears off. Thoughts jumping from one thing to another—schools, facilities, openness, what needs to be done.


He loves helping. Professionally, he’s something of a social worker, dedicated to communities, to people, to making things better. And from our small conversations, I suspect things will get better, and that he’ll keep forging forward thoughtfully.

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