if you begin to feel overload,
if you begin to feel what we are saying,
consider your earth
looking for you
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Subject: Frustrated
i was looking outside my window this past saturday, and i noticed it had rained while i was sleeping. it must have just stopped, the puddles were starting to dry up, splotching the road a two-tone gray. the gray in the sky was just beginning to be burned off by patches of blue. i was in the kitchen, pouring myself a bowl of cereal when i glanced out the window and saw the old korean couple who own the food mart next door trying to hoist something big off their pick up truck's bed and into the back door of their shop. it was big and black and looked like a rolled up mattress that was three times bigger than any mattress i've ever seen. i stopped pouring my milk, deciding to watch for a bit, because it looked like they really needed some help. the man, still clean and professional even with his collar undone at the top, was giving directions in muffled korean while crouching down and wrestling the rolled up pad. the woman, small, quiet, and strong, seemed to have all but given up with the thing. she stood with her knees bent, alternately gawking at the mattress, then at the ground, then at her husband. i've never seen her so disgusted and insulted looking.
all of a sudden, the husband shifted his weight, but overestimated and stumbled into a puddle near the door, causing the other end of the mattress, which was still resting in the truck bed at the time, to fall out and into another puddle. at precisely the moment the mattress hit the ground, a pale,young looking arm fell from the center of the roll, lifeless little fingers coming to rest in the middle of the puddle. almost immediately, the man began waving his arms and yelling expletives in broken english between painful strings of korean. the woman, clearly mortified, kept pointing the finger of her free hand at her husband while struggling to keep her end of the mattress up. passers by walked on without so much as a glance.
I got pretty agitated at this point - why wasn't anyone helping them? they're so nice, always saying hi when i cut through the back parking lot of their shop. they always want to chat, and i admit i am interested in how they make their kimchi, but i'm always too busy, on my way to work or running errands. always gracious, they never fail to wish me a good day. as far as i've noticed, they treat everyone this way - why, in their time of need, could no one stop for just a moment and assist? people just kept on walking and jogging past as though those holes of blue in the sky might also burn away the gray clouding their eyes.
i rushed to put on my sneakers and head out to help when i glanced out again. i saw that they happened to have righted their burden. they were already dragging it into the back of the shop - i was relieved to see they'd gotten through with it alright. resilient, those two. besides, my cereal was starting to get soggy.
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