I think I have this tendency to attract trouble wherever I go. Take today for example.
I went for a Bobbi Brown make up class today, to educate myself on the finer points in face painting. I was told that I was in desperate need of a session in this. No matter.
The session went well and I was getting along smashingly with the makeup artist attached to me. In fact, I think she liked me so much that when I complained of having no luck at all, especially in lucky draws (I was entitled to a lucky draw), she offered to draw on my behalf *hint hint wink wink*
I didn't understand what she meant initially but told her to go ahead anyway because she can't possibly do worse than I. So she shook the box a bit, poked around inside, and "drew" me a prize.
Now at this point some of you might accuse me of abetting this sort of behaviour which is clearly wrong, but let's be honest: who doesn't like the odds to be tipped in their favour once in a while? And this is coming from the sort of person who wins the most miserable prize in a sure win draw, and in a draw where there is no guaranteed winner, would almost always walk away with nothing. I was grateful for the nice gesture on Ariel's (that's her name) part. After all, she had nothing to gain from it.
It turned out that our little fiasco was witnessed by this stupid bitch in line in front of me (let’s call her Stupid Bitch). If I had witnessed something like that, I would have just smiled and kept to myself. It takes nothing away from my experience by keeping quiet, and I gain nothing by telling on her. Clearly, she did not think this way because she started kicking up a huge ruckus, involving a few of Ariel's colleagues and customers. And I am ashamed to say that while the ruckus was being kicked, I stood in line playing with my iPhone (the iPhone is evil!), pretending not to hear the commotion around me. I did nothing to defend Ariel, protect or restore her. Remember, she did it for me. I think this lack of action on my part initially is going to haunt me in the coming weeks.
Let’s leave justice aside for a moment. We as Christians talk incessantly about mercy. We talk about protecting the downtrodden, about how the meek shall inherit the earth, about how the poor in spirit are blessed. We speak of being champions of righteousness, yet when confronted with a situation where I could have made a real difference to the little girl who was shedding tears in fear because of what the Stupid Bitch might do to her career, I did nothing. I was a coward. It was not my proudest moment.
It took me a while to collect my wits and realize that she was crying. It was then that it occurred to me that she had been so afraid, trying to explain away something to which she had no defence (to be honest, she *did* try to give me an unfair advantage). It was at that moment when she brushed aside tears while trying to ring up another order did it occur to me what I had failed to do.
It was too late, but I hunted the Stupid Bitch down and offered to let her witness me returning the lucky draw prize. I made her promise not to report on Ariel, but that was all I could do. I could not ensure that Stupid Bitch keeps to her promise because there really isn’t much I can do to keep track. I gave Ariel my business card, and told her to give me a call anytime should this matter ever come up again, for any reason, and that I would back her up. I didn’t, but I should have apologized for my earlier inaction.
I need to react faster. Sometimes the best outcomes depend on this.
