19.10.2006
Today I saw something special: a motivated junkie. And what a beautiful sight it was!
It goes without saying that one thing that characterizes any major city, is its share of problem childs. People who have fallen victim to variouses substances, be it alcohol or harder drugs. People who have failed to manage reality, and somewhere in the process have become one-dimensional creatures whose main characteristic is being unable to move, speak coherent or do anything worthwhile. Unless ofcourse, when aiming for a new fix. This is how we usually see them, and this is how we expect them to be: A loathed subspecies of the human race.
Today however, I saw a motivated junkie. A junkie come to life, showing emotion and evidently looking ahead to something big. A junkie with proper ambition and hope! I was riding the bus home from work, when I spot this junkie at the busstop. Every visual quality that defines a junkie was present, there was no doubt. But somehow this one seemed different. This anomaly seemed eager on something.
He had his jacket put semi-neatly on the busstop-seat, while clearing his throat. Taking a deep breath he gathered what he had of lung-capacity, hissed loudly and spit out whatever gerbils his mouth and throat may have contained. He then gathered his jacket, made sure it was presentable on the outside before shaking it, inside facing down. He obviously wanted to look presentable and neat.
After this he started running! Not any pansy jogging or walking. Not at all! With a smile on his face this man ran down the street and had seemingly no worries in the entire world. He even stopped by a pole, regained his balance and made one of those happy flips you only see people do in old movies and commercials. And then he just kept on running with that wide, wide smile on his face. All the way until I lost sight of him.
Too bad I don't have a videocamera. It was a beautiful sight that truly warmed my heart!