As I walk back to my car, I notice a rather shabby-looking lad, dressed in a parka, lingering outside Starbucks. He is small in stature, wearing thick spectacles, and his two front teeth have been knocked out. He is unattractive on any account. I guess late teens.
He is passed by a girl he knows. She is of a similar age. She is overweight, plain, wearing a grubby-looking sweatshirt.
'Hi there!' he pipes up 'How're you doing?'
'Yeah alright.' she shoots back, without breaking her stride.
'Take care!' he calls after her, as she walks right past him.
She carries on walking then, a few yards away from him, turns and calls out 'Sad!' before continuing into the shopping centre, turning left into the games store.
In that moment I am intensely aware of this tiny, momentary exchange that has left two people emotionally crushed. What happened? I don't know, at a guess I would say what happened is this:
The way the young man approached and spoke to the young woman left her feeling that he thought she was attainable: if not of a similar level of attractiveness, then not entirely 'out of his league'. The anger took a few paces to bubble up; whereupon, shocked, insulted and determined to set herself above him she turned and delivered the 'put down': "sad!". Both are left bruised.
I wish I could say that these sorts of interactions are not commonplace or that they are constrained to young, thoughtless people. But small acts of petty brutality are everyday occurrences wherever I go.
But seeing such things only serves to throw into sharp relief genuine acts of kindness, decent people, and true selflessness. They shine like stars in the night.
*Image: Abby Kihano
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