Yesterday I went to the grocery store. Unlike many husbands, I love to do the food shopping; maybe it's because I love food so much. Who knows? So, there I was standing in the canned food section, trying to pick out just the right can of baked beans, when this woman came up and stood right in front of me, blocking my view of the baked beans.
Now, I am not a small man that this woman would have not seen me standing there. So, I looked down at my jacket to make sure that I didn't put on my "Cloak of Invisibility" before I left the house. Now fully assured that I was not invisible, there were only 2 logical explanations for this woman's behavior. Actually, the first is not very plausible... Perhaps the woman was blind and needed to feel the braille label on my can of baked beans. Oh, that's right, there are no braille labels on cans of baked beans. So, that leads me to the second explanation: She was just being ignorant. To her, everyone else was just invisible.
So, there we were. The Ignorant Woman and Bill Kirby standing in Aisle 2, getting ready to do the Dance of the Baked Beans. Honestly, I wanted to "poke her in the eye" Three Stooges Style, but blinding her would have only given her an excuse to annoy me further. So I waited until she was finished being ignorant; hoping that she would turn around and say something like, "Oh, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be an ignorant bitch." But she didn't. She just grabbed an inferior can of baked beans and went on her way to stand in front of someone else.
I learned a long time ago to pick my battles. Feuding over aisle position for selecting canned goods is never a good fight to pick. Besides, I was invisible. But you know what? I feel invisible a lot. Whether it's in the car, at work, at home, or in the canned good section of the local market, I sometimes feel like it doesn't matter whether I'm present or not. While people can be ignorant, the root cause of my invisibility is me. I choose to be invisible. I choose to remain silent sometimes and absorb the hurt.
Well, this woman got me thinking. She got me thinking about where did the old Bill Kirby go? Where was that guy who was full of confidence? Had the world beaten him down so far that he was going to let Betty Baked Bean Stealer make him feel invisible? No More! This woman, in her act of ignorance, had no idea what maelstrom she had set off. No More, am I going to be treated like the Invisible Man!
Oh, 2012 is going to be different. As a superhero, I never wanted the power to become invisible. I have always wanted to have the ability to fly. And fly I will. I will soar above the people that block my view of the baked beans, I will never be invisible again. Much of our fate in this life is determined by our own decisions. We can choose to be invisible or we can set a course for adventure by flying above the people and the world that surround us each day. In 2012, I choose to fly. Come, fly with me!
Be Well.
Bill
