The lady behind me in the grocery line was in a wheelchair. So I looked at her to see what was wrong with her. Then I remembered that you shouldn't stare, so I looked away from her. Then I remembered that people with disabilities sometimes complain that people don't make eye contact with them, so I looked back at her. Then I didn't know what to do with my gaze, so I looked away from her. By which point I probably looked like I was flirting (and I seem to look like a lesbian today too, at least it's one of those days when I'm getting more of Those Looks from women).
I seriously completely forgot how you normally go about looking or not looking at the person behind you in line! I disgust myself sometimes.
2 comments:
Try not to be too hard on yourself. It happens to everyone sometimes.
It's cute that you noticed it.
Today I was even worse. Something that came up in a text sounded like something that would be posted on Stuff White People Like, so I mentioned this to my colleague as we were working out the wording, and then went on for a bit about how SWPL is really funny, don't you think? and can be so terribly spot-on at times, don't you think? and we're all SOOO like that, don't you think? etc etc. She seemed kind of noncommittal about it, saying how she could see it's funny but she could also see why some people get offended at it and was generally trying very hard to be balanced and even-handed. So we finished our chat and went back to work.
Then a bit later I remembered that she isn't white. (And yes, it's visually obvious, I just...forgot. Which is almost racist in and of itself.)
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