I’m the kind of person that reads far too much into things. Not into what people do or say, necessarily, but more the involuntary afflictions of the world around me. Today I was walking back from class at Thompson, trying to call Joelle to tell her that Brian might be coming to visit me tonight. My phone wouldn’t work. I tried calling her three times, and each time it gave the same response: network busy. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I wasn’t meant to be on the phone at that time, that something would happen for which I needed to be alert, and that something would happen that was going to change my life. At this point I started listening to the people walking ahead of me. There were two girls with their backs to me, enthralled in what a young man was saying to him. He was reasonably attractive; nothing that would take my breath away. He wore jeans and a jean jacket that didn’t match. At first I thought he was obnoxious for talking so loudly, but then I saw something in him that reminded him of myself when I spoke about something I was passionate about. Then I started listening.
“The only way to get an A in that class is to read the book and come up with an original thought about politics, which is impossible. You can’t come up with an original thought, everyone has had them already?”
I realized he was right. The girls he was talking to batted their eyelashes and asked him to help them study. I wanted to say something to him, a greeting of some sort that would welcome this boy into my destiny. But how do you say, “Hello, I think you’re meant to change my life”, without coming across as completely and entirely insane. You can’t. so I decided to facebook him.
Facebook is an outlet for all personal encounters you’re too scared to have in person. It also allows for awkward meetings with people you’ve friended but never met.
But why am I relying on someone else to change my life? As I walked through the echoey tunnel between southwest and the outside world, it dawned on me that perhaps this boy was not what was meant to change my life. Perhaps I was simply meant to have these thoughts and then go back to my room, shut the door, and write this before it all left my mind and mixed with the blaring rap music that echoed from the third floor. The truth is, at this point I am utterly relying on someone else to change my life, and in that, change me.