People Will Always …

This weekend, while visiting at my parents house, I needed to find my college diploma so that I could bring a copy to work (they have all of these crazy requests of things that need to be on file, I’m surprised they haven’t asked me for a kidney or my first born child).  I looked in my old room in the top drawer of the white chest where all of my important documents were, but the drawer was empty.  In fact, the entire dresser was empty.  Perturbed, I asked my mom where my things were, when my sister said that she had emptied out the dresser and put everything into a box on the floor to clean it up.  Since moving it out of a dresser and into a box on the floor makes everything so much cleaner.  Well, I was somewhat pissed off, for a few reasons.  One, that all of my carefully filed things were now in a box on the floor, and second, that my sister had rummaged through everything.  Her saying that she put the “important looking things” in one box and the “crap” in another box didn’t help matters, since what the hell does she know about what is important and what’s crap to me?  So I told her that she had no right to go into my room and sort through all of my things, especially since there were my diplomas and health records and things like that in there.  What if everything got lost since it’s thrown into a box?  Or, hello, maybe I just don’t want other people poking through my things??  All of this was lost on her, and she made the argument that since I moved out that she can do whatever she wants with my room, since everything I left behind I obviously didn’t want.  (P.S. – she’s 28 and still lives at home with our parents.  Just saying.)  She didn’t seem to grasp the fact that since I didn’t move into a permanent new house, I’d left behind the things that were the most important so that I wouldn’t lose them in a house full of roommates.  Then she literally told me to go fuck myself because she didn’t give a shit and she was going to keep doing whatever the hell she wanted.  To shorten an already long story, my sister has always been a two-faced bitch who will be all sweet to anyone she wants to impress, and take a shit on everyone else.  And I’m the kind of person who always gives her another chance, and just when I feel that it’s going great and we’re getting along, she shits on me again.  Which proves a lesson that I should have learned long ago:  no matter what you do, people will always disappoint you.

Today at work, one particular little boy started his day out the usual way, by throwing a tantrum and hitting the other children.  A lot.  He’s just that kid that is always throwing things at/hitting/kicking anyone who happens to be near him.  He also doesn’t listen to a word you say and keeps doing whatever he wants, all the time.  Needless to say, I do not … enjoy this child.  I don’t dislike him, I’m always nice to him and help him whenever he lets me needs it, and I try to gently encourage him.  But I still don’t actively seek his company.  Getting him out of the pool is especially difficult, since he loves it so much.  You really need to force him out and push his shoes onto his feet while he screams.  So imagine my shock when today I said, “Ok guys, time to come out of the pool, let’s get our shoes and towels!”, and he went over to his sandals, put them on, got his towel, and stood patiently waiting for the other children to be done.  I didn’t have to ask him twice, I didn’t have to force him.  So I praised him and hugged him and told him that he was being such a good listener today.  Which proves a lesson that I should have learned long ago:  people will always surprise you.

Most people will never disappoing you all the time, or impress you all the time.  Most people will sometimes disappoint and sometimes surprise.  That’s what makes us human.  There’s always the capacity to do something good, even in the people you don’t expect it from.  And while I’m not ready to call my sister yet, I’m hopeful that someday I might.